By Liz Townsend

Although passed in 1995, Illinois's Parental Notice of Abortion Act remains unenforced as court challenges continue.

A judge is currently considering whether to remove a temporary restraining order he placed on the law last November, according to the Associated Press (AP).

The act requires abortionists to notify minor girls' parents 48 hours before abortions, with exceptions for medical emergency and abuse, and it includes a judicial bypass. Enforcement was initially halted when it took the Illinois Supreme Court 11 years to issue procedures for the bypass, and when a challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and an abortion clinic led to an injunction against the law.

In July 2009, a federal appeals court ordered the law to go into effect, and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation gave doctors 90 days for implementation, the AP reported. But once again the law's enforcement was delayed when Cook County Judge Daniel Riley issued a temporary restraining order November 4.

Riley heard arguments March 15. The ACLU claimed that the law would harm some girls, while the state cited bypass procedures that would protect these girls. "There's nothing wrong with Illinois encouraging a law that parents have involvement," said assistant Illinois Attorney General Thomas Ioppolo, according to the AP. "Courts have said that parents have a right to be involved in the decision."

Riley is expected to issue his ruling March 29.
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A Hartford Superior Court judge heard arguments March 8 in a lawsuit that seeks to legalize assisted suicide in Connecticut without action by the legislature. The state is asking Judge Julia Aurigemma to rule on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

The suit, filed by two doctors and the pro-euthanasia group Compassion & Choices, contends that the word "suicide" in the state's manslaughter statute does not apply to what they call "aid in dying," according to the New London Day.
State attorneys argued that since the legislature has failed to pass an assisted suicide bill despite several proposals, the court should not take it upon itself to create a law, the Day reported. In addition, as attorney Perry Zinn-Rowthorn stated at the hearing, a court-issued euthanasia ruling would not include any safeguards that would be included in a legislature-passed statute.

The court should not decide "by advisory opinion what the legislature has consistently refused to do," Zinn-Rowthorn said, according to the Day. "It would be dangerous, from a public health policy [standpoint], to issue this type of sweeping public policy change by declaration."

A ruling is expected within a few months, the Day reported.

Part Three
Part One