Court hands defeat to advocates of abortion notification law in Ill.

CHICAGO -- A federal judge refused to allow enforcement of a state law requiring teenage girls to notify their parents before getting abortions, a legal body blow to the decades-old measure.

Pro-choice groups Saturday hailed the ruling, saying it should be a last nail in the coffin for the law that was passed in 1984 and updated in 1995 but has never been enforced because of complex legal wrangling.

"We're very pleased," said Lorie Chaiten of the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "This should be the end of that law."

Pro-life forces decried the judge's ruling on the law, which says minors can't obtain abortions without telling their parents or getting a court's OK to bypass the requirement.

"It's a major defeat for the people of Illinois," said Thomas Brejcha of the Chicago-based Thomas More Society's Pro-Life Law Center. "This is a defensible, constitutional law."

In a decision entered Friday, U.S. District Judge David H. Coar rejected a request from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to dissolve a 1996 order that put the law on hold.

The Illinois Supreme Court opened the door to resurrecting the Parental Notice of Abortion Act in 2006 when it issued necessary rules for the notification process.

But Judge Coar appeared to slam the door shut. In his 13-page ruling, Coar said the law still fails to give a teenager workable judicial options to notifying her parents.

Madigan's office said it could not immediately comment on the judge's decision, but Brejcha said he expected Madigan to appeal -- all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if need be.

Currently, 35 states have parental notification or permission laws, and most states enforce them, according to the Guttmacher Institute -- which supports abortion rights.

Illinois is the only state in the region that doesn't have such laws, and pro-life activists say that enables teens from other states to travel there to receive abortions.

Brejcha also argues that the Illinois law is common-sense legislation, saying it was adopted with bipartisan support.

"Families ought to consult with one another about matters of this importance, which is major surgery," he said. "You even need permission to dispense aspirin in schools."

The ACLU says the vast majority of teens inform their parents about their abortions anyway, but laws mandating notification leave some girls vulnerable.

"In the few instances where a young woman is not able to tell her parents, because of fear of abuse, neglect or being tossed from the house, that young woman should not be denied essential reproductive health care," an ACLU statement said.