Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Entry 6- Ammendment 10

1) Source:
Illinois parental notification law goes into effect on Tuesday.
September 14, 2010.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-11-02/news/0911010332_1_parental-notification-notification-law-parental-consent

2) Constitutional Connection:

Amendment 10:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

3) Explanation for Connection:

Illinois has passed a law that if any girl under the age of eighteen is going to have an abortion, then a physician must notify the parent. Some people argue that this new law might make girls rely on unsafe procedures so that their parents don't find out. Others argue that this might decrease abortion. This law is an altered, fixed version of a law that was created on 1995. This law just requires that parents are notified, but their consent isn't needed.

The tenth Amendment gives the state power to make its own laws on subjects that aren't mentioned in the Constitution. Abortion and laws applying to it aren't mentioned in the constitution. Therefore, each state can create its own laws regarding abortion and its restrictions. This law was created by the state of Illinois. This is an example of federalism at the state level because they have the sole power of making their own laws of abortion without the interference. That is unless, of course, their law contradicts the constitution in any manner.

In my own opinion, I believe that it is appropriate that the states can create their own laws. The state court is able to make laws that specifically apply to their citizens because they are able to understand the problems within their own states better than the Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court makes laws regarding all states they tend to be more general. As if it were a compromise of all the states needs bunched up into one law. Just like this abortion law- it was purposefully created for Illinois. They know that many people take advantage of the tolerance for abortion and their lack of laws regarding it, so they imposed this law.

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