{"id":6465,"date":"2017-04-26T08:03:17","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T14:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=6465"},"modified":"2017-04-26T08:03:17","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T14:03:17","slug":"rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html","title":{"rendered":"Did Rauner flip-flop on Medicaid abortions?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0304c\"<\/p>\n

On the Democrats\u2019 party platform this summer: \u00a0the elimination of the Hyde Amendment and the full funding of abortion by the federal government under any circumstance when it would otherwise fund healthcare\/pregnancy-related medical treatments.<\/p>\n

In Illinois: \u00a0the Democrats, who control the House and Senate, have passed a bill which removes existing\u00a0restrictions on coverage of elective abortion by Medicaid and state employees\u2019 health insurance plans. \u00a0Pro-choice-ish Republican Governor Bruce Rauner has said he\u2019ll veto the bill.<\/p>\n

And everyone\u2019s falling to pieces.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Rauner campaigned with a message to voters that he had no interest in social issues, and told voters that he\u2019d fix the economy and the Illinois budget, but wouldn\u2019t change the status quo on such topics as abortion, gay marriage, etc. \u00a0And that seemed to suit Illinois voters just fine.<\/p>\n

But now\u00a0the Democrats and the abortion-rights activists are calling him all the usual names (anti-woman!) with a twisted logic that says that he denying women their \u201creproductive rights\u201d if he dares the bill.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s extremism. \u00a0And what\u2019s worse, the reporting on the issue takes the activists\u2019 claims, that he\u2019s somehow flip-flopping in his refusal to expand abortion in this manner, at face value.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s today\u2019s Tribune<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Indeed, abortion rights groups were quick to deem Rauner\u2019s opposition a betrayal of voters who previously supported Rauner, noting he frequently declared he had \u201cno social agenda\u201d while on the campaign trail in 2014. Political action group Personal PAC took the rare step of releasing a previously confidential candidate questionnaire from that race in which Rauner expressed support for the ideas contained in the legislation he now opposes.<\/p>\n

Rauner, who was away from the Capitol to tour a Beer Nuts plant in Bloomington, has declined to explain his shifting position, saying that expanding taxpayer funding for abortions is a \u201cvery divisive issue.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, there is a bit more to the story: \u00a0it seems that Rauner, in a bid to placate the abortion-rights lobby, filled out a questionnaire in April 2014 for the group Personal PAC, per another recent article<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cI dislike the Illinois law that restricts abortion coverage under the state Medicaid plan and state employees\u2019 health insurance because I believe it unfairly restricts access based on income. I would support a legislative effort to reverse that law,\u201d Rauner wrote in answer to the April 2014 questionnaire.<\/p>\n

Rauner also checked \u201cyes\u201d boxes on questions about whether he would sign bills to maintain the legality of abortion in the event of a U.S. Supreme court reversal of its landmark 1973 decision as well as legislation about lifting Medicaid and state-employee insurance restrictions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Does that mean he\u2019s a flip-flopper? \u00a0I\u2019d never heard of this questionnaire before.<\/p>\n

What does Rauner truly believe?<\/p>\n

I suspect he simply doesn\u2019t care, that he has no personal \u201cmoral compass\u201d telling him to believe one thing or another on the issue.<\/p>\n

In April 2014, he thought currying the favor of this group would help him; very shortly after that or perhaps even simultaneously, he pledged to voters, repeatedly, in an effort to placate both pro-choice and pro-life groups, that he would follow no particular agenda regarding abortion. \u00a0Which means that the action most in keeping with his campaign promise is a veto.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image: \u00a0Bruce Rauner, in his trademark plaid, at the local July 4th parade. \u00a0Own image.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 On the Democrats\u2019 party platform this summer: \u00a0the elimination of the Hyde Amendment and the full funding of abortion by the federal government under any circumstance when it would otherwise fund healthcare\/pregnancy-related medical treatments. In Illinois: \u00a0the Democrats, who control the House and Senate, have passed a bill which removes existing\u00a0restrictions on coverage of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":2332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDid Rauner flip-flop on Medicaid abortions?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  On the Democrats' party platform this summer: \u00a0the elimination of the Hyde Amendment and the full funding of abortion by the federal government\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Did Rauner flip-flop on Medicaid abortions?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  On the Democrats' party platform this summer: \u00a0the elimination of the Hyde Amendment and the full funding of abortion by the federal government\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-26T14:03:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/07\/DSC_0304c.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html\",\"name\":\"Did Rauner flip-flop on Medicaid abortions?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-26T14:03:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-26T14:03:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"  On the Democrats' party platform this summer: \u00a0the elimination of the Hyde Amendment and the full funding of abortion by the federal government\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Did Rauner flip-flop on Medicaid abortions?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Did Rauner flip-flop on Medicaid abortions?","description":"  On the Democrats' party platform this summer: \u00a0the elimination of the Hyde Amendment and the full funding of abortion by the federal government","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Did Rauner flip-flop on Medicaid abortions?","og_description":"  On the Democrats' party platform this summer: \u00a0the elimination of the Hyde Amendment and the full funding of abortion by the federal government","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2017-04-26T14:03:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/07\/DSC_0304c.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html","name":"Did Rauner flip-flop on Medicaid abortions?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-04-26T14:03:17+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-26T14:03:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"  On the Democrats' party platform this summer: \u00a0the elimination of the Hyde Amendment and the full funding of abortion by the federal government","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/rauner-flip-flop-medicaid-abortions.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Did Rauner flip-flop on Medicaid abortions?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}