Abortion Foes Take Public Funding Fight Back To Illinois Supreme Court

Anti-abortion groups are once again going before the Illinois Supreme Court.

They're trying to block last year’s new law allowing state government to pay for abortions.

The law expanded abortion access for state and public university employees, and women on the low-income Medicaid program.

But abortion opponents are using a novel legal strategy — arguing the state can’t pay for abortions because recent budgets are unconstitutional.

Peter Breen is with the Thomas More Society, which bills itself as a Roman Catholic public interest law firm. He says recent budgets have not met the Constitutional requirement of a revenue estimate — that is, how much Illinois expects to collect in tax money.

“The lower court decisions read that requirement out of the Constitution altogether,” Breen says. “That is the only protection taxpayers have that they would get a balanced budget.”

Indeed those judges basically said the anti-abortion groups are over-reading the balanced budget language in the Illinois Constitution. They also said the dispute is a political question, and thus should be settled in the legislature.

The groups also went to the Illinois Supreme Court earlier this year, attempting to jump the line by saying they were pursuing a matter of extraordinary public interest. But the justices declined to take the case and directed the plaintiffs toward the usuall appeals process.

Breen is also a Republican state representative from Lombard, though he’ll be giving up his seat in January after losing the November election. He says the case should have appeal to Illinoisans who do not share his views on abortion.

“Here the thing: Whatever your position on abortion, as an Illinois taxpayer you should be in favor of this case, and in favor of ensuring that the General Assembly follow the Constitution, establish that revenue estimate, and don’t spend a penny more than the amount of money we’ve got coming in,” Breen says.