With the budget deadline nearing, Rep. Jerry Costello II (D-Smithton) stood proudly with Republican lawmakers at an impromptu press conference Tuesday rejecting taxpayer-subsidized abortions.
Since discussing the budget in the past few days, lawmakers have been confronted with HB40, 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, leaving lawmakers with the question of whether to vote on a budget that funds up to 30,000 elective abortions annually in Illinois.
And it is not just GOP lawmakers who loathe the idea; Costello, a Democrat, joined them.
Rep. Jerry Costello II (D-Smithton)
Costello said as a practicing Catholic he will not jeopardize his morals for a budget vote.
At the conference, Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard) said a recent survey states that while 89 percent of Republicans oppose taxpayer-funded abortion, 56 percent of independents and 43 percent of Democrats deny the idea.
But that has not stopped Illinois from becoming infamous for elective abortions, according to Breen, who said in the wake of HB40, 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 those who morally object to abortion are not forced to vote on a budget that would fund the procedure, but with the spring legislative ending soon, both the budget and funding of HB40 are unknown.
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