Illinois Abortions Increase, Lack of Parental Notification Law Playing Role 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 14, 2007
Springfield, IL (LifeNews.com) — After reaching their lowest total in third years in 2003, abortions have been on the rise in Illinois and new figures from the state health department show them increasing in 2006. The number of abortions in Illinois for 2006 reached 46,467, compared to a 2005 total of 43,409, a whopping seven percent increase.
The increase of 3,058 included 2,003 abortions done on Illinois residents and 1,055 on women from out-of-state or whose residency was unknown.
William Beckman, the director of the Illinois Right to Life Committee, told LifeNews.com in an email that "the jump of over 3,000 abortions should raise some questions" given how most states are seeing a decline in the number of abortions.
Beckman says the increase could be because of a failure by the Illinois government to put a parental notification law into effect — making it easy for teenagers from other states to go across the border for secret abortions.
"That level of traffic from out-of-state again demonstrates the need for enforcement of the Illinois parental notice law," he told LifeNews.com.
"All surrounding states have parental notice or consent laws in force. Illinois abortion providers are being used as a means to subvert parental involvement laws of surrounding states," he added.
The 1,055 abortions done on women from out-of-state or of unknown residency represents an increase of 21%, bringing total abortions on out-of-state residents to 6,055.
"In 2004, this total was 3,514 so there has been a very rapid increase in abortions done on non-residents," Beckman explained.
The Illinois law is still awaiting a decision from Federal Judge David Coar on removal of the now outdated injunction that prevents its enforcement.
Looking at the new figures from the Illinois Department of Public Health, some 64 percent of the increase of abortions on state residents came among women who were 20-29 years old.
While total abortions for Illinois residents rose by 5.2%, the increase for the 20-29 age category was 6.2%. That compares to an increase of 2.4% for 15-19 year-olds.
Beckman also pointed to studies showing that abortions increased in some areas where the morning after pill is used heavily and cautioned that its use in the United States may have contributed to the increase.
In 1973, 32,760 abortions were performed in Illinois, and the number has never been that low since. The highest number of Illinois abortions occurred in 1977, with 71,326 performed.
Abortions in Illinois may increase further in future years as Planned Parenthood has built a large new abortion center in Aurora that will attract people from northern Illinois and the Chicago area.
Related web sites:
Illinois Right to Life Committee – https://www.illinoisrighttolife.org
