[Updated and bumped up. See “Update 2″ below]

What a coinkidink.

Robert Thomas, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois, called in to a Christian radio program in suburban Chicago last week to tell them he hoped to revive an abortion case the court had stalled action on 11 years earlier.

Late Monday, the court declared it would issue rules about how minor girls could appeal a judge’s decision denying them the right to get an abortion without their families being notified. That will clear the way for a law passed by the Legislature in 1995 to take effect, requiring abortion providers to notify an adult relative of a pregnant teen before giving her an abortion.

Republican DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett has been campaigning for lieutenant governor on a platform of reviving the law, and he wrote a letter to the state high court in June asking it to finally write the rules that will let the law take effect.

Thomas, who won his seat on the court with support from anti-abortion groups six years ago, had already asked his clerks to research the issue before Birkett and the anti-abortion groups filed their briefs, said Joe Tybor, court spokesman.

And I’m not the only one who noticed.

Critics of parental notification laws called the timing “highly suspicious” and accused the high court of playing politics and the chief justice in particular of trying to help fellow Republicans.

“They’re trying to exploit the parental notification law for political gain,” said Terry Cosgrove, president of Personal PAC, an abortion rights group.

A spokesman for the state’s high court denied politics was a factor. He said Thomas, a Wheaton Republican and former Bears kicker, wanted to bring the issue before his colleagues during their September term well before Birkett, the DuPage County state’s attorney, and others sent letters urging action.

“I don’t think politics had anything to do with this decision,” said Joseph Tybor, the court’s press secretary. “This would have gone before the Supreme Court whether Birkett had written him a letter or not.”

I’m sure.

More here.

*** UPDATE *** Former state Rep. Cal Skinner has been pro-life at least since his Reagan Republican conversion. Skinner voted against the parental notification bill because he believed it to be a sham.

He has posted his floor speech from 1996, entitled “Ten Ways to Avoid Telling Your Parents You’re Pregnant Under House Bill 955″ on his blog. Here’s his conclusion:

It does not deserve to be called “parental notice.”

It is a “parental avoidance bill”

Skinner also notes that the bill’s proponents did not dispute the “loopholes” he uncovered.

*** UPDATE 2*** Well, that was fast.

The Illinois Supreme Court issued rules Wednesday that could lead to enforcement of a long-ignored law requiring parents to be notified before their minor daughters get an abortion. […]

The law allows minors seeking abortions to avoid the notification requirement by going to court and asking for a waiver. The new rules say the judge should try to rule on the request at the end of the hearing, but if that’s not possible then the judge should rule within 48 hours.

If the waiver is rejected, the decision can be appealed to an appellate court and ultimately the Illinois Supreme Court. The rules say there would be no oral arguments on appeals and decisions would have to be issued within two days by the appellate court and five days by the Supreme Court.

The waiver request and all legal proceedings would be confidential under the new rules.

According to the AP, this was a unanimous decision.

I couldn’t find the new rules on the Internet yet, but if they are posted they should be here. [It’s there now.]

*** UPDATE 3 *** This was at the very bottom of Thursday’s Sun-Times story.

Thomas, the Illinois Supreme Court’s chief justice, last week called a Christian radio show after hearing that a guest was criticizing the Supreme Court for not issuing the rules. Thomas told the host off the air that the new members of the court were taking up the issue, the host said.

Not as blatant as the original story suggested.