Rauner won’t say why he changed position on expanded abortion funding

April 21--Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday declined to explain why he backtracked from a campaign pledge to expand the availability of taxpayer-subsidized abortions in Illinois, instead saying lawmakers should stay away from such a "divisive" issue and "focus" on his prerequisites for ending the state's historic budget impasse.

In 2014, then-Republican nominee Rauner signed a questionnaire from abortion-rights advocacy group Personal PAC in which he vowed to work for legislation that would lift restrictions on Medicaid- and state employee insurance-covered abortions.

"I dislike the Illinois law that restricts abortion coverage under the state Medicaid plan and state employees' health insurance because I believe it unfairly restricts access based on income. I would support a legislative effort to reverse that law," Rauner wrote in answer to the April 2014 questionnaire.

Rauner also checked "yes" boxes on questions about whether he would sign bills to maintain the legality of abortion in the event of a U.S. Supreme court reversal of its landmark 1973 decision as well as legislation about lifting Medicaid and state-employee insurance restrictions.

But Rauner recently vowed to use his veto on pending legislation that would provide for Medicaid and state-employee insurance coverage of elective abortions and seek to ensure that abortions would remain legal in Illinois in the event of a reversal by the high court.

After speaking at a minority business enterprise event at a downtown Chicago hotel Friday, Rauner would not directly say why he had changed his mind, except to say existing state law was satisfactory.

"I always have and I always will support existing Illinois law. We need to protect women's reproductive health in the state of Illinois and we need to protect existing Illinois law," he told reporters.

"Expanding taxpayer funding is a very divisive issue. It's a very controversial issue. What we need to do is focus in Illinois. We need to protect existing Illinois law but we need to focus on jobs. We need to focus on reducing property taxes. We need to focus on education funding. We need to focus on getting term limits on elected officials. These are difficult issues. We need to focus," he said.

Asked what those issues had to do with reproductive rights for women, Rauner said: "It has everything to do with focus. What we should not do is take on controversial divisive issues right now when we don't have a balanced budget, when we do not have proper school funding, when we do not have economic growth and job creation. We should not take on divisive, controversial issues, and expanding taxpayer funding is a controversial divisive issue."

Rauner was then asked if the issue wasn't controversial when he first ran for governor. He did not directly answer but repeated his call for lawmakers to "focus" on his agenda and the budget.

Taxpayer-subsidized abortions have always been a controversial issue in the country. A national CNN poll released in March 2014, just prior to Rauner's questionnaire reply to Personal PAC, found 56 percent opposed and only 39 percent favored taxpayer-funded abortions.

The key Republican constituencies of social conservative groups and abortion-rights opponents praised Rauner's recent veto vow. Rauner, who is seeking re-election, defeated Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn in 2014 while running as a supporter of women's reproductive rights. Wife Diana Rauner vouched for his views on abortion in advertisements and proclaimed he had "no social agenda."

Democrats who already have lined up to take on Rauner next year have sharply criticized his shift in position. Personal PAC officials held a news conference last week to say they were dismayed by the governor's veto vow and said they felt they had been misled.

Rauner's call for lawmakers to "focus" on the lengthy budget stalemate appeared to be an attempt to shift public focus away from his change of position and return it back to his agenda items, which have been stalled by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly.

But his shift in position is something that politically active abortion-rights advocacy groups are likely to try to exploit among a key election voting demographic: suburban women who lean Republican but have socially moderate views. Another concern to Rauner's team is that all but one of the traditionally Republican suburban collar counties voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in November.

Rauner's comments came after he addressed the opening of the 50th annual Chicago Business Opportunity Fair aimed at assisting minority business and job growth, following a panel discussion that included Democratic contender Chris Kennedy.

During brief remarks, Rauner criticized the state for failing to meet goals aimed at encouraging the use of minority businesses in state government, as well as high minority unemployment.

"I'm a business guy. I'm not a politician. I don't like to pay lip service. I don't frankly like to talk about stuff. I like to do things that get results. Results are all that matters," he told the audience.

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