From Laurie Higgins at the Illinois Family Institute:
[Yesterday] the Illinois Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995 is constitutional and, therefore, must take effect.
Finally, after almost 18 years of legal obstacles thrown in the path of this reasonable law by the ACLU, parents (or guardians) of minor girls will finally be accorded their right to know that their daughter is planning to undergo a significant medical procedure attendant to which are serious physical and emotional risks.
This law is not a parental permission law. It merely requires that parents or guardians be notified at least 48 hours prior to an unemancipated minor girl acquiring an abortion. Actually, the law is so generous that it permits the person notified to be a parent, grandparent, step-parent or guardian who is living in the home with the minor girl.
Further, it provides for a judicial bypass waiver that would allow exemptions from notification for medical emergencies or to protect girls who come from abusive home environments whose safety might be jeopardized by parental notification.
