Illinois Abortion Notification Law Heads Back To Courts
Though the Illinois law requiring a teenage girl’s parents be notified before she has an abortion passed in 1995, it has thus far gone completely unenforced in the decade-and-a-half-plus since it became law due to continued legal challenges.
On Friday, supporters of the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act had another setback, as a state appeals court passed the matter on to ta lower court, which will now have to determine the law’s constitutionality. Meanwhile, it remains under injunction, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The decision reversed a 2009 finding by a federal appeals panel that Illinois’ abortion notification law dwas constitutional. After that, abortion rights advocates turned to Cook County courts who, in February 2010, tossed the lawsuit but kept in place a ban on enforcing the new law. The American Civil Liberties Union, which has represented the Granite City abortion clinic and the physician at the head of the lawsuit, then turned to the Illinois Appellate Court.