Like many pro-life Republicans, I held my nose and voted for Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner in 2014. That turned out to be a mistake. Below I tender my mea culpa.
In June, we wrote about Rauner’s opportunity to veto SB 1564, an oppressive, anti-religious freedom bill passed by Illinois’ Democrat-led state legislature, which would require pro-life medical professionals and pro-life pregnancy centers to participate in and/or openly advocate for abortion. Rauner, who famously campaigned on having “no social issues agenda,” signed SB 1564 into law on Friday.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (photo credit: Steven Vance via Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
Instead of siding with the faithful pro-life conservatives who believed his “social issues” campaign promise and worked hard to get him elected in 2014, Rauner chose to embrace radical anti-religious leftists and pro-abortion advocates who will never vote for him anyway.
So much for the lesser of two evils.
Several weeks ago, Hans von Spakovsky described the impact of SB 1564 in detail over at The Daily Signal:
Currently, doctors who object to performing abortions because of a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction are protected under Illinois law from being forced to violate their consciences.
This bill would upset this balance and force objecting doctors to refer or transfer their patients to abortion providers. Thus, this statute would require a physician to facilitate individuals obtaining abortions even if it violates that physician’s religious beliefs and makes him a party to an operation that he considers immoral or a sin.
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