Effort To Delay Abortion-Funding Law Fails
(CBS) -- Government-financed abortions will go into effect in Illinois, starting Jan. 1, after an attempt to block the new law failed Thursday in a Springfield courtroom.
But pro-lifers, including the lawmaker taking on Gov. Bruce Rauner in the GOP primary, still believe it was the right thing to do.
CBS 2 Political Reporter Derrick Blakley has more.
State Sen. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, launched her challenge to Rauner after he approved House Bill 40, providing abortion insurance to Medicaid patients and state workers.
She backed this week's last-ditch challenge to the law. Anti-abortion advocates argued that lawmakers didn't designate specific funding for abortions.
Abortion-rights advocates disagree.
"There's a Medicaid budget, but there's no a line item that says this amount of money's going to be used for colonoscopies, this amount of money's going to be used for emergency-room visits," says Terry Cosgrove, CEO of Personal PAC.
Abortion opponents also argued HB40 passed too late to take effect Jan. 1.
But Judge Jennifer Ascher threw out both arguments.
Pro-lifers promise an appeal, while abortion supporters promise to be heard at the ballot box.
The court fight shows how divisive the abortion issue is, especially among Republicans.