Posted on 10/30/2005 12:51:53 PM PST by Giant Conservative
Whenever minor girls come in seeking abortions unaccompanied by adult family members, counselor and nurse practitioner Felicia Paxton asks them where their parents are.
Paxton, who works at Planned Parenthood medical clinics in Los Angeles, says she prefers that a mother or father -- or both -- are there to support pregnant teens.
She remembers a 17-year-old girl who had an abortion and cried out in the operating room, "I wish I could tell my mom!"
"I asked her, why won't she?" Paxton says.
The girl answered: "Because she just wouldn't understand."
Now a California measure on the Nov. 8 special election ballot, Proposition 73, is asking voters to decide whether doctors should be required by law to notify parents or guardians of girls under 18 before they can legally perform abortions.
Parental rights at issue|
Proponents, led by groups and individuals generally opposing abortion rights, say the measure addresses a fundamental issue of parental rights. They argue that girls under 18 can't get an aspirin or a flu shot from a school nurse or a tooth pulled by a dentist without a parent knowing -- and yet can have a surgical abortion or obtain medication to terminate a pregnancy in secrecy.
Opponents, led by Planned Parenthood groups and other abortion rights advocates, say Proposition 73 could endanger already traumatized young girls, including victims of sexual or family abuse, causing many to avoid or delay medical attention.
Although the measure would allow such teens to petition a juvenile court judge to waive parental notification requirements, opponents say it would burden frightened girls with navigating their way through the legal system.
Hidden agendas|
Advocates on each side trade accusations of hidden agendas to undermine abortion rights in California or irresponsibly promote abortion on demand.
"To whom should safety of our teens be entrusted to?" said Paul Laubacher, a Sacramento nurse who helped launch the signature drive for Proposition 73, at a contentious Assembly and Senate Health Committee hearing assessing potential impacts of the initiative. "Should we entrust it to a parent or guardian or to an anonymous clinic operator who stands to gain $400 for performing an abortion?"
At the same hearing, Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Alameda, interrogated initiative proponents over whether they have a broader agenda to restrict abortion in California. She pointed to a Yes on 73 newspaper advertisement that proclaimed: "This is our first opportunity to pass a baby-saving law in California -- a constitutional amendment that the courts cannot overturn!"
The advertisement appeared in San Francisco Faith, one of several Catholic papers run by publisher James Holman, who contributed more than $1.1 million to bankroll the petition drive that collected more than 1 million signatures to qualify Proposition 73.
Other donors behind Proposition 73 include veterans of the anti-abortion movement, such as former state lawmaker Don Sebastiani, whose family owns Sebastiani & Sons winery in Sonoma County, and Tom Monaghan, founder of Dominos Pizza. Each contributed $150,000.
Planned Parenthood of California and its statewide affiliates have raised nearly $1.1 million to defeat the measure. Another $149,123 has come from the California Family Health Council, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern and Southern California and state and national chapters of the Abortion Rights Action League.
The fundraising blitz by Proposition 73 opponents is fueled by opponents' claims the initiative could be a first step toward repealing legal abortion in California. They point to language in the measure that defines abortion as causing the "death of an unborn child, a child conceived but not yet born."
Legal definition|
Margaret Crosby, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, said the wording defining the unborn as a ''child'' could establish new protections for fetuses and set an anti-abortion precedent the courts have so far failed to recognize.
"The proponents have inserted language that has nothing to do with parental notification and appears to be laying the groundwork for the future," Crosby said. Crosby said she believes California would become the first state to amend its constitution redefining the unborn, a prospect that could trigger legal challenges to abortion.
But Catherine Short, an Ojai attorney who helped draft Proposition 73, said the initiative specifically says it wouldn't restrict abortion beyond the parental notification requirement.
"We are for the first time providing for legal abortion in the constitution," she said. "We are the ones putting ourselves at the mercy of the court."
Proposition 73 backers point out that 34 states have passed laws mandating either parental notification or parental consent -- a standard not sought in California.
"These parental involvement laws have yet to make abortion illegal in any state," said Maria Guadalupe Garcia, a San Diego nutritionist, mother of two teenaged daughters and former anti-abortion rights Republican congressional candidate who signed the ballot argument supporting Proposition 73. "I don't know how they (opponents) can make that leap. This is about parents' rights and protecting our daughters."
Proposition 73 would amend the state constitution to bar surgical abortions or prevent physicians from administering emergency contraception such as RU 486 to minor girls until 48 hours after the physician or a clinic representative notifies a parent or legal guardian. The notification rule would be waived if the physician certifies the abortion is necessary to prevent the death of the mother or serious complications threatening her bodily health.
In 1987, the California legislature passed a law, Assembly Bill 2274, that would have required permission -- not simply notification -- of a parent or a court for a minor to obtain an abortion. It was blocked by legal challenges and, ultimately, overturned by the state Supreme Court in 1997. Chief Justice Ronald George wrote that the '87 law violated a state right to privacy and was ''likely to impair, rather than protect, the health of pregnant minors who do not wish to bear a child.''
The initiative comes as California has reduced its teen pregnancy rate, by 41 percent between 1990 and 2000, according to a study by the Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy at the University of California, San Francisco. Teen pregnancies fell nationally by a lower rate, 33 percent.
At Planned Parenthood clinics in Los Angeles, nurse practitioner Paxton shares the view of many Proposition 73 supporters that it is best if minors talk to their parents before seeking an abortion. But she opposes the initiative because she fears mandatory parental notification could subject some girls to physical abuse or getting kicked out of their homes.
Too many times, Paxton says, she has seen the dangers in dysfunctional families. Once a mother brought her daughter into a Planned Parenthood clinic to get an abortion. The daughter wanted to have the baby. The clinic refused to perform the abortion.
''Her mother slapped her right in the waiting room and said, 'You're not coming home with me,' '' Paxton said.
Another time a father called a clinic, furious that his daughter had come seeking an abortion. Paxton said she feared the girl would be beaten after the father refused to talk to his daughter and screamed over the phone that she would be in trouble once she got home.
Claire Brindis, director of pediatrics and health policy who co-directed the UCSF adolescent abortion study, said 61 percent of girls under 18 discuss their decision to have an abortion with their parents. She said more than 30 percent of girls who choose not to inform their parents fear ''getting kicked out of the house or other abuse.''
The complicated court process taked about by PP, is written in the proposition to be no longer than 2 days and is totally private, and the teen is lead through the process by an advocate.
This is of course the reason that 99.9% of the minor girls having an abortion do not want their parents to know.
Moral Absolutes Ping.
Sad article. Obvious that abstinence before marriage and fidelity within marriage are the solutions. In the meantime, get the ACLU and Planned "Parent"hood out of control and out of tax payer money, for a good start.
Freepmail me if you want on/off this pinglist.
Oh, and there are many, many husbands and wives longing to adopt. So if any teenager girls get pregnant, there are homes waiting for the babies if the girls feel they're not ready to be a mother.
I never knew about that. Sebastiani makes a very good Cabernet Sauvignon. 90 points for $17.
Both Prop 73 and Prop 75 address and strengthen the individual rights of Californians. They are simple in concept and easily understandable by the electorate.
All other Propositions on the ballot, 74,76,77,78,79 & 80, were designed by the political class, for the benefit of the political class. Most relieve the political class of its responsibility to govern with the interest of all Californians in mind.
"Another time a father called a clinic, furious that his daughter had come seeking an abortion. Paxton said she feared the girl would be beaten after the father refused to talk to his daughter and screamed over the phone that she would be in trouble once she got home."
So they just presume the father would beat his daughter without any evidence, yet they know full well they are going to beat the father’s grandchild to death and that is ok? Have aliens from outer space invaded this planet and brainwashed common sense out of some people or what?
"Another time a father called a clinic, furious that his daughter had come seeking an abortion. Paxton said she feared the girl would be beaten after the father refused to talk to his daughter and screamed over the phone that she would be in trouble once she got home."
So they just presume the father would beat his daughter without any evidence, yet they know full well they are going to beat the father’s grandchild to death and that is ok? Have aliens from outer space invaded this planet and brainwashed common sense out of some people or what?
I'd like to know of even one documented case in the USA where a parent has been convicted of assaulting or murdering a daughter under those circumstances...that's just one stinking red herring from the abortionists!
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causing many to avoid or delay medical attention.That's a creative use of the term "medical attention."
causing many to avoid or delay medical attention.That's a creative use of the term "medical attention."
Unbelievably horrible.
Nothing other than Mengele/Nazism. Only worse - millions think it's perfectly moral and correct and good.
Sick and depraved beyond belief.
When will this horror stop?
That's a question to ask Christ during your prayers.
This and other evils that harden peoples' hearts and cause unimaginable misery are the subject of my prayers daily.
Thanks for posting that list, people need to see what is going on.
Check out #10
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