In a surprise move this morning, the doctors of the Medical Board—some saying that they are not “babysitters” for the Illinois Courts—refused to extend their “grace period” against enforcement of the Parental Notice of Abortion Act. Legal Counsel for the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation had tried to convince the doctors to extend the “grace period” for another 180 days. The doctors unanimously refused that request.

Robert Fernandez, a non-doctor member of the Board and an attorney for Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, tried to save the “grace period” by proposing that the Board extend for just 90 days. (The Sonnenschein law firm serves as outside counsel for Planned Parenthood of Illinois, the state’s largest abortion provider.) The doctors of the Board rejected that proposal, as well.

Now, all eyes turn to the Cook County Circuit Court, where at 3p.m. today, attorneys for the ACLU, the State of Illinois, and the Thomas More Society will face off on the ACLU’s attempt to read a broad right to abortion into the Illinois Constitution. The federal courts have already ruled that the Parental Notice Act is valid and constitutional under the U.S. Constitution, and the Illinois Supreme Court has instructed that “our state courts are prepared to proceed to apply the law as enacted.”

Persons manning the phones at the Governor’s office are telling callers that the Parental Notice Act is in-force—some staffers have mentioned that the office has received “a ton” of calls from Illinoisans urging the Governor to uphold Parental Notice.

On Monday afternoon, Thomas More Society attorneys Tom Brejcha and Peter Breen were in Court on behalf of Illinois state’s attorneys to oppose the ACLU’s latest attempt to overturn the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act—and to read an unlimited right to abortion into the Illinois Constitution. The ACLU is representing the plaintiff in the case, Hope Clinic v. Adams, with the Illinois Medical Disciplinary Board and the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation as defendants.

The Parental Notice Act was ruled valid and constitutional by the federal courts earlier this year, and our own Illinois Supreme Court had previously instructed that “our state courts are prepared to proceed to apply the law as enacted.”

TMS attorneys thought they would be joining the defendants to defend the Parental Notice Act. Instead, upon arriving in Court, the attorneys were handed a memo saying that the Medical Board would now “review evidence” on the constitutionality of the Act and intended to extend a “grace period” against the enforcement of parental notice. The Medical Board does not have the authority to stop valid Illinois laws from being enforced, but that hasn’t stopped them thus far.

That puts the Thomas More Society in an odd spot in this case—against both the plaintiffs, the ACLU, and the defendants, the Illinois government. They knew it was going to be a long day when the representative from Personal PAC—the political arm of Illinois’ abortion providers—warmly introduced himself to the attorneys for the Medical Board (from the office of Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan). Personal PAC sat right behind these lawyers in Court.

At the hearing, attorneys for the Medical Board told the judge that it would be meeting on Wednesday morning [PDF of agenda] at 9a.m. to consider the matter—to either lift the (illegal) “grace period” or to continue it. So you might wonder, will it be done on Wednesday morning? Will the 14-year wait for this parental notice law—something 80% of Illinoisans support—finally be over?

The medical administrative process is supposed to proceed in a two-step: first, the Medical Board adopts a recommendation and, second, the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation approves the recommendation, at which point the recommendation becomes effective.

Here’s the problem: TMS has learned that one of the six members of the Board, Robert Fernandez, is a partner in the firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in Chicago. That firm’s lawyers serve as Outside Counsel to Planned Parenthood of Illinois. The Thomas More Society is up against Sonnenschein in the Scheidler v. Trombley defamation lawsuit, now pending in the Illinois Appellate Court.

And, it gets worse. Brent Adams, Secretary of the Department of Professional Regulation and the lead defendant in this lawsuit, is on the Executive Committee for Personal PAC, the political arm of Illinois’ abortion providers, and he has served on its Board of Directors since 1999. And, his resume lists him as a past member of the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Illinois, the lawyers for the plaintiffs in this case.

This morning, the Chicago Tribune editorialized that, “This had better be a routine hearing. The legislature passed this law in 1995. Enough with the delays.”