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 The measure, which passed the Senate 33-22, also aims to keep
abortions legal in Illinois if the U.S. Supreme Court follows
President Donald Trump's call to overturn its landmark Roe v. Wade
ruling 44 years ago that made abortions legal.
Illinois' Medicaid program covers abortions in cases of rape, incest
and when a mother's life or health is threatened. The expansion
would enable poor women to obtain elective abortions. Also, the
legislation would allow state employees to have the procedures
covered under state health insurance.
The vote was a rare legislative victory for U.S. abortion-rights
advocates at a time when foes have ratcheted up the heat with the
election of Trump and a conservative Congress.
However, the victory will likely be short lived because Governor
Bruce Rauner has promised to veto the legislation, saying Illinois
should focus on less “divisive” issues and instead pass a full-year
operating budget for the first time in nearly two years.
A spokeswoman for Rauner directed questions on Wednesday evening to
previous statements where he said he did not support the measure.
However, as a candidate in 2014, he supported expanding abortion
access.
Republican lawmakers have criticized the bill as both burdensome to
tax payers and immoral.
"We should be focused on ways to reduce costs—not advance costly
controversial proposals that will cost the taxpayers even more,"
Republican state senator Dan McConchie said in a statement on
Wednesday.
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A veto override would take 71 votes in the Democrat-led House, where
the bill passed 62-55 in late April. It would take 36 votes in the
Senate.
A veto by Rauner would be a sharp turn from his previous position,
which political opponents are poised to exploit.
"We cannot allow Illinois to return to the days when women had so
few options for reproductive care that they desperately resorted to
back-alley quacks, poison, knitting needles, disappearing from
public sight or suicide to deal with unwanted pregnancies," state
senator Daniel Biss, a Democrat, said in a statement after the bill
passed on Wednesday.
(Additional reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by David Gregorio)
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