Illinois Supreme Court accepts brief filed by ADF, allied attorneys in defense of parental notification law

Parents matter when their minor children seek abortions, according to the arguments of the Alliance Defense Fund and ADF-allied attorneys with the Chicago firm of Mauck & Baker in a brief filed with the Illinois Supreme Court.

Tuesday the high court accepted the friend-of-the-court brief filed on behalf of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Catholic Medical Association in defense of an Illinois law that requires parents to be notified if their minor child seeks an abortion.

Illinois Family Institute is proudly co-sponsoring Mauck & Baker’s efforts.

“Parents matter in abortion decisions,” said ADF Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden. “If abortionists truly cared about young girls, they wouldn’t be pushing to make sure parents stay in the dark while a clinic takes advantage of their daughters’ bodies and desperate situation–not to mention the life of the child in the womb.”

The brief argues that “parental involvement laws protect young women and their physicians, ensuring that full informed consent is given and a proper medical standard of care is met.”

Mauck & Baker, LLC, is lead counsel for the medical groups filing the brief. Richard Baker, Amy Parish, and Noel Sterett are three of nearly 2,100 attorneys in the ADF alliance.

American Civil Liberties Union attorneys representing an abortion clinic and an abortionist filed the lawsuit The Hope Clinic for Women v. Adams in an attempt to tear down the Illinois Parental Notice Act. A federal district court found the law constitutional in October 2010 and dismissed the ACLU’s case, which is now on appeal.

“A young child’s well being is worth much more than an abortionist’s bottom line,” Sterett said. “This law balances the needs of desperate young girls with the rights of the parents who care most about them. The Illinois Supreme Court should allow this protective law to go into effect and reject the arguments of those who want to shut parents out of their children’s critical health decisions.”

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.