Judge Won’t Lift Abortion Ban at Chicago Hospital
A judge Wednesday indefinitely stalled plans to resume elective abortions at Chicago’s only public hospital.
Cook County Hospital, which serves the poor and those without health insurance, had planned to resume offering the procedure today after a 12-year ban.
Four county commissioners sued to block an order by county board President Richard Phelan allowing abortions to resume at the public facility. Cook County Circuit Judge Richard L. Curry agreed that the June 18 order appeared to shortcut the legislative process.
“The issue here is not an issue of abortion or no abortion at Cook County Hospital,” Curry said in issuing a temporary restraining order. “It is one of tensions between the executive and legislative branches of government.”
By executive order, former county board President George W. Dunne barred abortions at the hospital, except to save the mother’s life, when the state stopped paying for the procedure in 1980.
The annual number of abortions dropped from about 3,500 to 10.
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