SPRINGFIELD – The 2016 Illinois Republican Platform was approved overwhelmingly by the party's rank and file at their convention held every four years. The Illinois GOP's website featuring the party's "philosophy" says:
Where the other major party sews [sic] division and dependence, we will continue to sew [sic] hope, opportunity, and an independence that empowers every individual to achieve his or her God-given potential.
Let it be known that this is the Republican Party. We proudly reclaim our history so that we may advance the ideal of all freedoms for all people—regardless of race, color or creed into the future.
So what does the Illinois Republican Party's platform say about the topic of "Protecting the Right to Life" – and will Governor Rauner's actions on HB 40 reflect the Republican Party's views?
As found here, on the IL GOP website:
VI. PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO LIFE
We believe that our natural rights, as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, begin at conception and continue until natural death. We believe that these rights include the fundamental right to life of unborn children, and we support the appointment or election of judges who share that belief.
We support a human life amendment to the federal and Illinois constitutions affirming the right to life of unborn children, and we support making clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.
We advocate the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
We oppose the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions or to support organizations that perform abortions, that participate in the purchase or sale of fetal tissue or organs, or that create and destroy human embryos for the harvesting of stem cells for research or treatment purposes.
We believe that the practices of partial birth and late-term abortion are so morally repugnant that we specifically, and strongly, affirm our opposition to those practices.
We believe that physicians should be required to notify a minor child’s parents or guardians prior to the performance of an abortion.
We applaud the work of pregnancy care centers in reducing abortions. We support public policies that encourage adoption—by reducing costs and streamlining processes—as an alternative to abortion.
In order to protect women’s health, we believe facilities in which abortions are performed should be required to meet the same medical operating standards as other outpatient surgery centers, including undergoing periodic health and safety inspections.
We support enactment of the Illinois Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, which guarantees appropriate medical care for babies whose birth is incidental to abortion.
The party's rank and file are strongly opposed to public policy that makes access to abortions easier.
Will Governor Rauner – elected into office by Illinois Republicans – hold to the party's views on HB 40?
