Illinois Valley Times

With the end of the spring legislative session looming and the budget yet to be passed, GOP legislators held an impromptu press conference on Tuesday to reject taxpayer-subsidized abortions.

Absent from the press conference, however, was Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon), who supports tax-payer funded abortions as part of the budget.

Since discussing the budget in the last few days, lawmakers have been confronted with HB 40, a bill passed last year that allows for taxpayer-subsidized abortions. In 2017, the bill was not part of the annual fiscal plan. But it is now, and it has left lawmakers with the question of whether to vote on a budget that funds up to 30,000 elective abortions annually in Illinois.

Rep Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) did not attend Tuesday's press conference and said he will support a budget that includes taxpayer-funded abortions.

It is not just GOP lawmakers who loathe the idea.

At the press conference, Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard) cited a recent survey that reports that 89 percent of Republicans, 56 percent of independents and 43 percent of Democrats dislike the idea.

But that has not stopped Illinois from becoming infamous for elective abortions, according to Breen, who said that in the wake of HB 40, the largest abortion provider in Illinois publicly posted its plans to open four new clinics in the state.

Rep. Thomas Morrison (R-Palatine) said the word is getting out. 

“People are coming to Illinois to get abortions, and we are not confident that our current rules and procedures would not stop out-of-state residents from coming in and getting a taxpayer-funded abortion,” Morrison said.

GOP lawmakers are calling for the budget to be divided into silos so that those who morally object to abortion are not forced to vote on a budget that would fund the procedure.

“I prefer a simple appropriation on taxpayer-funded abortions on that issue alone,” Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) said.

In addition to Ives, Morrison and Breen, the following lawmakers were in attendance at the press conference: Reps. Jerry Costello (D-Smithton), Natalie Phelps Finnie (D-Elizabethtown), Margo McDermed (R-Mokena), Allen Skillicorn (R-West Dundee), Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield), Monica Bristow (D-Godfrey), Sheri Jesiel (R-Winthrop Harbor), Jerry Lee Long (R-Streator) and C.D. Davidsmeyer (R-Jacksonville). 

With only days left before the spring legislative session ends, both the budget and funding for HB 40 remain up in the air.