I’m going to vote against all of the California ballot propositions tomorrow, primarily because I think that previous ballot initiatives have made governing our state a mess (we’ve completely tied our legislature’s hands). But more importantly, I think they’re all pretty much bad ideas. And less significantly, voting against all of them sends a message to the Governator that he should stop wasting our tax dollars to initiate special elections for initiatives which are out of step with the views of his constituents.
Putting my overarching opposition to the propositions aside, I wanted to discuss one in particular: Proposition 73, which would require notification of parents in the event a minor seeks an abortion.
I’m going to oppose this one as well, even though I am personally opposed to abortion.
The main reason for my opposition comes from the word “notify.” While it may be possible in certain instances for parents to persuade their child to go ahead and keep the baby (or give it up for adoption), I suspect that the chances for such a change of heart are rather small if the child is so afraid of letting her parents know she is pregnant that she would pursue an abortion alone and without their knowledge.
In the end, the fact that it is a “notification” rather than an “authorization” means that this initiative will likely have little impact other than to increase domestic violence against pregnant girls who are not able to prove to a court that their parents should not be notified.
Interestingly enough, I would back a proposition which gave parents “veto power” over the abortion - it makes sense to me that those legally responsible for the child should have the right to make a decision as large as this one - but only if it contained strong protections for the safety of the would-be mother and ensured that someone (either the family of the mother or the state if they kicked her out of the house) be financially responsible for ensuring that mother and child do not become yet another statistic in the failed war on poverty.
