California, a heavily “pro-choice” state, will hold a referendum on parental notifcation for abortions performed on minors. The election, scheduled for November 8th, is part of a larger package of economic reforms pushed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger recently said he’d “kill” anyone who took one of his daughters for an abortion without informing him.
Supporters of the initiative describe it like this: “This ballot initiative will require an abortionist to notify one of the parents or guardian of a minor girl before performing the abortion on the girl.”
In 1953, the California Legislature enacted a law that allowed minors to receive, without parental consent or notice, the same range of medical care for a pregnancy that is available to an adult. This law eventually became the vehicle through which minors could obtain abortions without parental consent or notice.
In 1987, the Legislature amended this law to require minors to obtain parental consent or a court authorization prior to obtaining an abortion. However, implementation of the new law was enjoined by the courts, and in 1997 the California Supreme Court invalidated the law by finding that it violates the right to privacy guaranteed by Section 1 of Article I of the California Constitution. Consequently, minors in the state may receive abortion services, including abortion services provided by the state Medi-Cal health care program for the poor, without parental consent or notification, to the same extent that adults may receive such services.
Significantly, the measure would allow a pregnant girl to petition a juvenile court judge to waive the notification reequirement.
TheStateOf…the Question. Seriously, if a parent doesn’t have the right to know whether his or her daughter is going to make that decision, then what rights do parents have? If school nurses call parents before administering Tylenol, certainly parents should have the right to know if their child is going to undergo an abortion. I’m voting “Yes.”
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