{"id":172569,"date":"2017-09-29T15:50:23","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T19:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=172569"},"modified":"2017-10-04T14:44:53","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T18:44:53","slug":"3-reasons-why-gov-bruce-rauner-wrong-force-illinois-taxpayers-to-fund-abortions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/3-reasons-why-gov-bruce-rauner-wrong-force-illinois-taxpayers-to-fund-abortions\/","title":{"rendered":"3 reasons why Gov. Bruce Rauner is wrong to force Illinois taxpayers to fund abortions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On Thursday, Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner signed HB 40 into law. This means that Illinois taxpayers will be required to fund elective Medicaid abortions<\/a>. It also means that, should Roe v. Wade<\/em> be eventually overturned, the state will still continue to allow abortions.<\/p>\n

Rauner\u2019s signature comes after flip-flopping and broken promises. In April he said he would veto the bill<\/a>, but earlier this month changed his mind<\/a>, and has signed it, less than a week after receiving it. He had 60 days to sign.<\/p>\n

Rauner not too long ago \u201crecogniz[ed] the sharp divisions of opinion of taxpayer funding of abortion<\/a>.\u201d Indeed, polling reflects that<\/a> Americans of various demographics and opinions on abortion do not<\/em> approve of taxpayer funding of abortion.<\/p>\n

Abortion advocates have chosen to highlight<\/a> the fact that HB 40 guarantees the legality of abortion post-Roe <\/i>in the state. But other states, like Delaware<\/a>, have enacted similar laws guaranteeing this (which completely disregards the lives of thousands of preborn children), without forcing taxpayers to fork over their hard-earned dollars to fund the death of innocents.\u00a0Why would supporters of HB 40 choose to highlight this part of the law instead of the mandated taxpayer funding? Perhaps it’s because they know forcing Americans to fund something, especially something as morally objectionable as abortion, is highly unpopular. Here are three reasons why HB 40 is a bad idea:<\/p>\n

1. HB 40 is bad for preborn Illinoisans and their mothers. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael New, an Associate Professor of Economics at Ave Maria University and an Associate Scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, who\u00a0tweeted<\/a> about the implications of the bill as it reached Rauner\u2019s desk,\u00a0spoke with Live Action News after Rauner signed the bill into law. He said:<\/p>\n

HB 40 certainly will increase the number of abortions in Illinois. There is a broad consensus among researchers, both pro-life and pro-choice, that taxpayer subsidies of abortion raise abortion rates. My 2016 analysis of the Hyde Amendment published by the Charlotte Lozier Institute predicts that removing Hyde protections (which is what HB 40 does) will result in 3,800 more abortions a year in Illinois.<\/p>\n

\u2026The Hyde Amendment places strict limits on the ability of the federal government to fund abortion through Medicaid. However, states have always been free to pursue their own policy. Prior to today, 15 states funded abortion through Medicaid. In eleven of these states, the policy was imposed through a judicial ruling. In the four other states, health departments simply decided Medicaid would cover elective abortions. As such, Governor Rauner made history in an ignominious way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Abortion advocates believe this bill will help low-income women.<\/a>\u00a0The\u00a0media has reported<\/a> that \u201cgroups of women\u201d met with the governor in favor of the bill — as if that somehow represents the views of all women. Sadly, these low-income women will now also have to deal with the physical risks of abortion, especially if they undergo the a late-term abortion<\/a>, like the one shown in the video below.\u00a0There are psychological risks too<\/a>, which are not always immediate. Thus, women may suffer years down the road from regret, after receiving what they believed was “help” from the state.<\/p>\n