Reproductive Justice & Illinois

Here are some quick updates on reproductive justice in Illinois as I watch Hillary thank her supporters for tonight's wins:

• NARAL gives Illinois a B- for protecting women's reproductive rights. Yup, it's time for their annual "Who Decides" report card. Sadly 92% of Illinois counties have no abortion provider. Who has the top grade? Which state got the lowest grade? Jump on over to the report card and find out and why they got the grades they did. One tick mark against Illinois is a parental notification law for teens that has been under an injunction. Which brings me to...
• The parental notification is STILL not enforceable! Victory!! Unfortunately our very pro-choice Attorney General has been painted into a political corner and most likely will appeal this and maybe all the way to the Supreme Court. Let's hope that before that happens we get a pro-choice President who can appoint some pro-choice justices.
  

  The Parental Notice of Abortion Act was passed in 1984 and updated in 1995 but never enforced because the Illinois Supreme Court refused to issue rules spelling out how judges should handle appeals of the notification requirement. A federal court held that the law could not take effect without the rules in place. In 2006, the Supreme Court unexpectedly adopted the necessary rules.

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

  Coar said the law still fails to give a teenager workable judicial options to notify her parents, calling parts of the statute "contradictory and incomplete."

• Planned Parenthood of Illinois is now a reality. A new name, but still your same Planned Parenthood!
  
  

  The five individual Planned Parenthood affiliates throughout this state officially opened their doors today as Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL).
  
  “We decided together that by joining forces we would be able to broaden our services, and deepen our commitment to health care throughout the state of Illinois most effectively,” said Steve Trombley, who will become the President & CEO of PPIL.

Now back to my CNN addiction, on top of my Facebook addition.

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Don't forget about my Boca Burger Give-a-way!
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Technorati tags: reproductive justice, Illinois, feminism, pro-choice, NARAL, ACLU, Planned Parenthood