This week AUL filed an amicus brief in the Illinois Supreme Court supporting a state law requiring parental notice before minors can obtain abortions.
The Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act was enacted in 1995, but the ACLU has been using litigation to stall its enforcement. Considering almost 17 years have passed since the law’s enactment, practically an entire generation of young girls has been left unprotected. Sadly, women who were teenagers when the statute was enacted are now in their 30s.
The ACLU has argued that there is “no justification” for the General Assembly’s action in passing the law. In its brief, AUL refutes that claim, demonstrating that there are numerous studies demonstrating that parental involvement laws decrease both minor abortion and birth rates. AUL also details numerous studies demonstrating that abortion harms women—and especially minors—both physically and psychologically, and that parental involvement laws help shield minors from sexual exploitation.
Significantly, every state bordering Illinois has an enforceable parental involvement law—meaning that minors are currently coming into Illinois to avoid their own state laws. If the Illinois Supreme Court upholds the law, it would be protecting both minors within the state as well as ensuring the health and safety of those girls who come into the state for abortions without their parents’ knowledge (and enhancing the enforceability of the other state laws).
The brief was filed on behalf of Illinois Senators Tim Bivins (Dixon), William R. Haine (Alton), and Matt Murphy (Palatine), and Illinois Representatives Robert A. Biggins (Elmhurst), Robert W. Pritchard (Hinckley), David Reis (Sainte Marie), Jim Sacia (Pecatonica), and Jil Tracy (Quincy).
The brief is available here.
