California Parental Consent Measure Failing With Most Precincts Reporting

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 06 Nov 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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California's Proposition 4 -- which would require health care providers to notify a minor's parent or legal guardian at least 48 hours before providing abortion services to the minor -- was failing 52% to 48%, with 94% of precincts reporting Wednesday morning, CNN.com reports. CNN.com and other media outlets had not called the race as of Wednesday morning (CNN.com, 11/5). Prop. 4 represents the third time in the past four years that antiabortion advocates have attempted the parental notification measure in the state (Sweeney, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/5). Similar measures failed narrowly in 2005 and 2006, but recent polling showed increased support for this year's measure (Garcia, San Jose Mercury News, 11/4).

The latest version of the measure includes a provision that would allow pregnant minors to notify another adult relative, instead of a parent or guardian, if they feared abuse. The minors would have to give a detailed statement about why they feared abuse, and the health care provider would be required to notify authorities to launch an investigation (Nieves, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 11/5). In addition, parental notification could be waived in cases of medical emergency or if the minor persuades a juvenile court to forgo the requirement, according to the Mercury News (San Jose Mercury News, 11/4).

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, supporters promoted the measure as a "common sense move," arguing that parental notice is necessary when students receive aspirin in schools or visit tanning salons (Fernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/5). Opponents said that the measure was a "thinly disguised attempt to chip away at abortion rights," and that pregnant minors might be reluctant to report abuse if they feared it would trigger an investigation, the AP/Chronicle reports(AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 11/5).

Kathy Kneer -- president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, which strongly opposed the measure -- said, "This is the third attempt by anti-choice extremists to put the health of teens at risk in California to serve their political agenda." She added, "The worst-case scenario is this law would be implemented Feb. 6 and completely turn the courts upside down as they try to grapple with how to implement this law" (San Jose Mercury News, 11/4). Don Sebastiani -- a winemaker who financed Prop. 4 with San Diego Weekly Reader Publisher Jim Holman -- said the measure's supporters will try again a fourth time. Sebastiani said, "We're not going away. But the questions of when we do something next, where and how ... are open" (San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/5).

Thirty-four states have some type of law requiring parental involvement in a minor's abortion decision: 22 states require parental consent, 10 states require parental notification and the others require both notification and consent. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, implementing Prop. 4 potentially would cost California several million dollars annually in health and social service costs (San Francisco Chronicle, 11/5).

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