Earlier today a three judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in Zbaraz v. Madigan, a case considering the constitutionality of the 1995 Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act. The legislation - and its predecessors - had long been enjoined from enforcement until today's ruling.
The following statement can be attributed to Lorie Chaiten, Reproductive Rights Project Director for the ACLU of Illinois:
Today's decision reviving the dormant Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act creates unnecessary, dangerous hurdles to accessing essential health care for young women facing an unintended pregnancy in the State of Illinois. In the decades while this law (and its predecessors) were not enforced, we know that most young women in Illinois consulted with a parent or guardian when making the difficult decision about whether to continue a pregnancy. In those instances where young women did not tell a parent, often because of fear of abuse or neglect, most consulted with a trusted adult family member.
We now turn our attention to counseling teens and medical providers to minimize the harms of the notice and by-pass requirements upheld by the court today.
