On Wednesday of last week, Thomas More Society attorneys filed a motion to immediately transfer the legal case pending against the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act from the Illinois Appellate Court to the Illinois Supreme Court. Arguing that pregnant minors at risk for abortion suffer harm every day that the Act is not enforced, the Society invoked the Supreme Court rule allowing transfer of an appeal when the "public interest requires prompt adjudication." The pending appeal, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is currently in the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, where a decision may not come for a year or more.
Just Tuesday afternoon, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who is constitutionally obligated to defend the Parental Notice Act, joined the ACLU in opposing speedy resolution of the case by the Supreme Court. Earlier, after the trial judge threw out the ACLU's case, the Attorney General agreed to an indefinite stay of the Parental Notice Act during the ACLU's current appeal.
Thomas More Society wants to thank John-Paul Deddens, President of Students for Life of Illinois, who built the website www.letparentsknow.com, in order to support the Parental Notice Act. A coalition of pro-life and pro-family groups across Illinois have joined the website and the effort, and in response, thousands of Illinoisans called and petitioned the Attorney General over the past week to urge her to support the immediate resolution of the case by the Supreme Court.
The fate of the motion now rests in the hands of the Illinois Supreme Court, where "the Supreme Court or a justice thereof may order that the appeal be taken directly to it."
Click here to more about the motion forimmediate transfer.
Date Published: August 25, 2010
