EDITORIAL: Quit playing politics with Illinois abortion rights

When in doubt, do what’s right.

Gov. Bruce Rauner believes in a woman’s right to have an abortion. He’s said as much and everybody knows it, whatever the political downside for him.

So he should just go ahead and sign House Bill 40, legislation that would provide insurance coverage for abortions to Illinois workers and Medicaid recipients and protects a woman’s right to have an abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturns the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade.

The politics of the bill are not about to magically improve. No matter if or when Rauner vetoes the bill, moderate Republican suburban women, who were key to his election victory in 2014, will feel spurned. And if he signs the bill, no matter when, anti-abortion conservatives who are among his core supporters will be outraged.

Our advice to the governor: Get over it. Sign the bill. Do a John McCain and follow your conscience.

First, though, Democrats in the Legislature have to actually send Rauner the bill. He can’t sign what he does not have. The General Assembly approved the bill four months ago, but on the day it passed, May 10, Democrats used a procedural move — a “motion to reconsider” — to keep it from moving on to Rauner’s desk. And they’re still holding up the process.

We understand the Democrats’ strategy for the initial delay — to create pressure on Rauner to change his mind about vetoing the bill. And that may have worked. Back in April, Rauner vowed to veto the bill, but now he is signaling that he might sign it.

But enough. Under the Illinois Constitution, a bill is supposed to be delivered to the governor’s desk within 30 days of passage. This bill should have been on Rauner’s desk by June 10. The parliamentary maneuver used to hold up the bill, the “motion to reconsider,” was never intended to delay that schedule for months — or theoretically years.

Politically, it may be helpful for Democrats to hold the bill until next year, putting Rauner in an increasingly awkward spot closer to the gubernatorial election. But before long that’s going to backfire. The longer Democrats delay sending the bill, the more it looks like they are less concerned with championing the rights of women than in creating maximum embarrassment for Rauner.

This kind of delay tactic, taken to an extreme, only undermines the voting public’s confidence in the legislative process — and confidence is awfully low already.

Let’s also remember what’s really at stake here. Not an election. Not partisan power games. But the rights of women. Americans are truly concerned that a conservative Supreme Court under President Donald Trump could overturn Roe v. Wade, which prohibits states from banning all abortions. In recent years, conservative states have made it tougher for women to access abortion services, and the legitimate fear is that the Supreme Court will follow their lead.

Democrats say they won’t send Rauner the bill until he says whether he’ll sign or veto it. “I just want to know what he’s going to do,” Sen. Heather Steans, a chief sponsor of the bill, told Sun-Times reporter Tina Sfondeles.

How about this instead? Send him the bill and he’ll let you know. Seems fair.

We urge Rauner to approve the bill in its entirety.

The bill would strike a provision in Illinois’ 1975 abortion law that says if Roe v. Wade is ever reversed, abortions would be banned except to save a mother’s life. The bill also would allow women who work for the state or have Medicaid insurance to receive coverage for abortions. Currently, women on Medicaid have coverage only in cases of rape, incest and to protect the health of a mother. State workers have abortion coverage to save a mother’s life.

Access to abortion services should not be limited to those with the right insurance plan or money.

Send the bill. Sign the bill.

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