Court upholds state's parental-notice abortion law

An Illinois law requiring doctors to give a parent or adult family member at least 48 hours' advance notice of when a girl under age 18 will abort a pregnancy is constitutional, a U.S. Appeals Court ruled.

A three-judge panel of the Chicago-based court today said that state Supreme Court rules setting up judicial procedures for an expedited bypass hearing satisfy minors' constitutional rights to the procedure.

"The law provides an exception to notice for such minors, if they establish that they are mature enough to make the decision on their own or that notice is not in their best interests," U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Cudahy wrote for the court.

In its ruling, the court dissolved an injunction barring application of the statute formally known as the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995, which had been stayed while the state's high court created the bypass procedure.

Legislation first creating a parental notice provision was passed by the state legislature in 1983 and never enacted, the court said. It was superseded by the 1995 measure, which has since been the subject of litigation.

Robyn Ziegler, a spokeswoman for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, said she couldn't immediately comment. Madigan previously said she supported the measure, which the appeals court called "a permissible attempt to help a young woman make an informed choice about whether to have an abortion."

The Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union had opposed the law.

'Dangerous Hurdles'

"Today's decision reviving the dormant Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act creates unnecessary, dangerous hurdles to accessing essential health care for young women," said Lorie Chaiten, director of the group's Reproductive Rights Project.

Most young women requiring abortions during the time the legislation was stayed did tell parents, Chaiten said. In cases where they didn't, because of fear of abuse or neglect, most consulted with "a trusted adult family member," she said.

The appeals panel said it recognized that there may be "practical problems" with the expedited procedures created by the Illinois Supreme Court for bypassing the notice requirement. "It may be intimidating for a minor to navigate the process of presenting her case to a judge, for instance," Cudahy wrote.

The case is David Zbaraz, MD v. Lisa Madigan, Attorney General of Illinois, 8-1620, U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (Chicago).