Rauner now mum on abortion bill after earlier indication he’d veto

Sept. 20--Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday declined to take a position on a controversial abortion bill that has yet to make it to his desk but which his office previously said he would veto.

The legislation would lift restrictions on coverage of abortions by Medicaid and state employee insurance. It also would change a provision in Illinois law that ties the state's abortion policy to the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that protected a woman's right to have an abortion.

Rauner said he was "meeting with advocates on both sides of the issues raised in the bill and I'm meeting with legislators who are advocates of both sides of those issues in the bill and we are listening to their points of view."

But the governor would not say whether he would sign the bill into law if lawmakers followed through and sent it to him. Rauner's office said in April that he would veto the legislation.

"I have not received the bill, which is the most important thing," Rauner said Tuesday after a bill signing ceremony in which he approved legislation tightening restrictions and reporting requirements for civil asset forfeitures.

Earlier in the day during an appearance on Illinois Public Media radio, Rauner accused lawmakers of "playing political games" with the bill.

The bill passed both chambers in the spring, but sponsoring Sen. Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, used a procedural tactic to keep it off the governor's desk indefinitely. Harmon has said he wants to give the governor time to reverse his veto threat.

Holding onto the bill also allows Democrats to use it as a political tool to put the governor in a tricky position as he seeks re-election. Rauner needs to appeal to his conservative base, which opposes the bill, especially in the run-up to the March primary. So far, Rauner does not have a primary opponent, but signing the abortion bill means he could draw one.

Vetoing the bill, however, risks angering suburban moderates, a crucial voting bloc for the general election.

As a candidate, Rauner pledged to an abortion-rights political action committee that he was in favor of lifting restrictions on health care coverage for abortion under the state's Medicaid plan and under state employee health insurance, saying in a candidate questionnaire that he would "support a legislative effort to reverse that law."

Rauner's veto threat came in the spring, as the legislation was making its way through the General Assembly and the governor was facing pressure from conservative Republicans to come out against the bill to halt its passage. The bill passed anyway.

In May, Rauner said on WBEZ-FM 91.5 that he is only in support of the bill language that ensures that abortions will be legal in Illinois regardless of what happens on the federal level. If a proposal included only that part, Rauner said, he would "sign that legislation if that bill came to my desk."

Of the changes to restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortions, Rauner accused Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan of adding those provisions to the bill "to create political problems" for him.

"We're one of the more progressive states," Rauner said at the time. "I support that. I want to protect that. But the bill goes further and expands taxpayer funding in a way that only two other states have. That's very divisive, it's very controversial. That part, I don't think makes sense to do now."

Terry Cosgrove, president and CEO of the abortion rights advocacy group Personal PAC, said abortion rights advocates feel betrayed by the governor.

Cosgrove said on WGN-AM 720 on Sunday that the bill won't move to Rauner's desk without a promise that he'll sign it.

"That's my view of what should happen and currently the view of the sponsors and the people in control of the legislation," he said.

Chicago Tribune's Monique Garcia contributed from Springfield.

kgeiger@chicagotribune.com

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