Judge David Coar has not yet ruled on a petition filed by Attorney General Lisa Madigan requesting removal of the injunction that prevents the 1995 Parental Notice of Abortion Act from taking effect in Illinois.

Madigan returned to Federal court at the end of March to ask Judge Coar to lift the injunction of this 1995 law. This more definite request for removing the injunction, compared to the conditional approach she took in January, occurred after she received a letter signed by the seven Illinois Supreme Court justices. That letter criticized Madigan’s January action as “in error” when it suggested that Illinois courts were not ready to apply the rules issued by the Illinois Supreme Court.

Judge Coar gave abortion advocates from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) until May 17th to file objections to removal of the injunction. That day the ACLU filed objections using “evidence” that the county court system is not prepared to handle the judicial bypass rules issued by the Illinois Supreme Court. The submitted “evidence” included a written statement from pro-abortion Cook County Court Clerk Dorothy Brown stating that no procedures have been put in place to handle girls seeking judicial bypass “due to staff reductions and limited resources.”

Attorney General Madigan requested an extension to June 21st to reply to the ACLU filing. After that, it is unknown how long Judge Coar will take to evaluate the merits of the Madigan petition compared to the ACLU “evidence” before ruling on lifting the injunction. Since the attempt to gut parental notice in the Illinois Legislature failed when HB 317 lost on a 55-62 vote, parental notice would go into effect in Illinois if Judge Coar rules favorably. The waiting game continues.