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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Latest on a lawsuit over publicly funded abortions in Illinois (all times local):
3:40 p.m.
An Illinois judge has dismissed a challenge to a state law that would expand Medicaid and state-employee group health insurance to cover abortions.
Associate Circuit Judge Jennifer Ascher ruled Thursday that the judiciary should not intervene in "political questions" in the General Assembly such as a law's effective date or whether there's an appropriation to fund it.
State Rep. Peter Breen is a Republican from Lombard and a Thomas More Society lawyer who challenged the law , which is set to take effect Monday.
He argues that lawmakers didn't adopt the legislation in time for it to take effect by Jan. 1, nor did they appropriate money to pay for the procedures.
Breen says his clients will file an appeal in state appellate court Friday and seek an injunction to halt the law.
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10:35 a.m.
Conservative activists and legislators pressing a lawsuit against publicly funded abortions in Illinois are seeking an emergency injunction to prevent the law from taking effect Monday.
The Catholic Thomas More Society will appear in Sangamon County Circuit Court Thursday to ask for the injunction. The group says it would stop "tens of thousands of taxpayer-funded abortions in the New Year."
State Rep. Peter Breen is a Republican from Lombard and Thomas More Society special counsel. He says the law which expands Medicaid and state-employee group health insurance coverage to abortions will mean taxpayers will have to pay for as many as 30,000 abortions in Illinois annually.
Breen says many taxpayers have a "sincere moral objection" to paying for abortions. He says Illinois' budget crisis also makes financing them a problem.
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This story has been corrected to show Peter Breen said many taxpayers have a sincere moral objection to funding abortions, not an obligation to fund them.
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