CHICAGO, October 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently brought forward a suit in Illinois state court to block the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act, after the ACLU lost its bid in federal court earlier this year to stop the law from going into effect.
On Thursday, the Thomas More Society, a public interest firm, filed a petition in Cook County Circuit Court to intervene on behalf of three attorneys for the state of Illinois defending the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act.
State Attorneys Stewart Umholtz of Tazewell County, Edward Deters of Effingham County, and Raymond Cavanaugh of Henderson County are seeking to have the case dismissed.
The petition is expected to be heard at 2:00 p.m., Monday, November 2, 2009, along with the ACLU's motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the Parental Notice of Abortion Act.
“At some point, the ACLU will realize that Illinois law, just like the law in 36 other states, provides parents the right to know before their underage daughters are taken for abortions,” said Peter Breen, Executive Director & Legal Counsel for the Society. “Until that time, we will defend against the ACLU's continued attempts to thwart the will of Illinois voters, the large majority of whom support parental notice before an abortion.”
The suit brought in Illinois court by the ACLU did not name Illinois state's attorneys, as had been done in the earlier federal case.
The Thomas More Society's filing asserts that the ACLU's case is barred because of the earlier loss in the federal courts. The Society also asserts that the Illinois Constitution of 1970 did not include a right to abortion, based on the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention. Also, abortion remained illegal in Illinois, under almost all circumstances, after the 1970 Illinois Constitution went into effect and up until the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, which was based only on the U.S. Constitution.