Because the Third Circuit Court of Appeals refused to hear new evidence last week in a challenge to the state's strict abortion law, local abortion rights advocates and protesters are expecting the abortion act to go into effect soon.

Joanne Tosti-Vasey, Pennsylvania National Organization for Women treasurer, said Pennsylvania's Abortion Control Act is expected to go into effect, but the decision depends on whether Planned Parenthood appeals the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The act requires women to receive counseling about alternatives and then wait 24 hours before having an abortion. It also requires unmarried women under 18 years old to get their parents' permission before getting an abortion. New provisions of the law, enacted in 1988 and 1989, were upheld in 1992 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Last May, a federal judge reopened the challenge and stayed the law's enactment, saying new Supreme Court guidelines put the case in a different light. Four months later, the state went to the appeals court seeking to prevent U.S. District Judge Daniel H. Huyett III from reopening the hearings.

While the appeal decision has not yet been made, a representative from attorney Kathryn Kolbert's office said Planned Parenthood will be meeting this week to decide whether to appeal the case. Planned Parenthood has no definite time frame for when the act will go into effect.

But Tosti-Vasey said Planned Parenthood has 10 days to appeal the case -- if they decide not to appeal the case, it would take about 20 days for the act to go into effect.

"It will affect all women in the state of Pennsylvania," she said. But Tosti-Vasey added that women need to realize that abortions are still legal and there are services available to ensure that women seeking abortions can get them safely.

Because the Pennsylvania debate has been going on for years, Kelly Johnson (freshman-leisure studies) said she expects that Planned Parenthood will finally give up and let the law go into effect.

"I think it is about time that they just throw the towel in and let the state get on with other business," Johnson said. Protests are still going to be prevalent regardless of what the courts decide, she said.

Although unmarried women under 18 will need parental permission to get abortions, those minors can try to get a judicial bypass, Tosti-Vasey said. But often judges do not want to deal with granting bypasses, so it will depend on each individual judge, she said.

Bypasses could also result in abortion delays -- causing the woman's pregnancy to go into the second trimester and the abortion to get more expensive, Tosti-Vasey said.

The 24-hour waiting period will require clinics to provide state-mandated counseling.

Tosti-Vasey said women will not be provided with all the options. If a woman seeking an abortion has cancer, she will receive the same counseling as all other abortion-seeking women, she said.

Because the closest abortion clinic is in Harrisburg, the 24-hour delay inconveniences women who have to travel -- such as University students, she said. Women will have to go for counseling one day and come back the next day for the abortion.

Even though she thinks the act will primarily affect poorer women, Alexandra Sotereanos, co-director of Womyn's Concerns, said pro-choice women still need to contact their local legislators and let them know they are not happy with the act.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.