A Cook County judge tossed out a lawsuit Monday that aimed to block the state's never-enforced law that would require a young woman to notify her parents before she can get an abortion.
In 1995, Illinois passed the law--but it has never been enforced in the state due to appeals. The most recent attempt to block it was a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, whose attorneys argue that the law is unconstitutional.
The law would require doctors to notify the guardians of a girl 17 or younger 48 hours before she gets an abortion.
Cook County Judge Daniel A. Riley tossed the suit, but kept in place a ban on enforcing the new law, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Riley said the lawsuit was flawed, but "so, too, is the law itself."
"The law in question is a rather unfortunate piece of legislation," Riley said in a brief, noon-hour hearing. "It's likely to cause more harm than good."
Riley explained the law discriminates against a class of minors who are pregnant, in that those who are seeking an abortion must get parental notification but those who choose to have a child or even to adopt don't have the same requirement.
The ACLU is expected appeal, and Riley said he will then decide what to do with the restraining order in place. The Sun-Times reports:
Attorneys for ACLU call the law an invasion of privacy, saying it could threaten a teen's safety if she lives in an abusive home.
Lawyers from the Illinois Attorney General's Office, which is defending the law, say parents should have the right to give their child advice in the face of a difficult decision. Similar parental-notification laws are in place in 44 other states.
The case has attracted national attention from women's organizations, who agree with the ACLU in that the law threatens the safety of many teens. When the U.S. Court of Appeals decided to dissolve the injunction that barred the implementation of the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995 last summer, Planned Parenthood issued a statement:
Planned Parenthood agrees that in an ideal world, parents would be involved in their teens' health care, and engaged in healthy dialogue around responsible decision making. Most teens seek their parents' advice and counsel when making decisions about their health care. But in some cases, safe and open communication is not possible. In those cases, research shows mandatory parental notice laws do not enhance parent-teen communication, but they may be harmful to teens' health and well-being. If our government and the courts really care about our teenage sons and daughters, it should focus on giving them the information they need to make responsible decisions and continue to encourage healthy family communication, not erect barriers to critical health care services.