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Illinois gives doctors 90 days to implement parental notices for abortions

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Illinois Department of Finance and Professional Regulation (DFPR) on Wednesday granted doctors a 90-day grace period for enforcement of the state's parental notification requirement for minors obtaining abortions. The grace period came at the recommendation of the state Medical Disciplinary Board who voted unanimously to forgive "willful" failure to provide notice to a legal guardian under the Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995. The DFPR's announcement follows a decision last month by the Seventh Circuit which reversed a district court injunction barring the law's enforcement. The statute authorizes state judges to waive the notice requirement if doing so would be in a minor's best interest. The US Supreme Court ruled in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that a spousal notification requirement violated a woman's right to privacy in choosing to have an abortion. Statutory restrictions on this right are unconstitutional if they are found to impose an undue burden. Pro-life groups had argued prior to the Seventh Circuit's ruling that minors from surrounding states travel to Illinois to obtain abortions. Thirty-five other US states have enforceable parental notification or permission laws. In June 2007, the governor of New Hampshire signed a repeal of the state's parental notification law, which never took effect. In 2006, voters in Oregon and California rejected statutes that would have required notification, although those measures allowed minors to request a judge to bypass the requirement.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on August 06, 2009 (boomark / email).