ACLU of Illinois Responds to Ruling Reviving the Dormant Illinois Parental Notice...

ACLU of Illinois Responds to Ruling Reviving the Dormant Illinois Parental
Notice of Abortion Act

CHICAGO, July 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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.

SOURCE ACLU of Illinois

Edwin C. Yohnka, Director of Communications, American Civil Liberties Union of
Illinois, Phone: +1-312-201-9740, ext. 305, Fax: +1-312-201-9760, Pager:
+1-312-851-2832, eyohnka@aclu-il.org