PROP 73 (My Vote: NO)

WAITING PERIOD AND PARENTAL NOTIFICATION BEFORE TERMINATION OF MINOR'S PREGNANCY. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
• Amends California Constitution, prohibiting abortion for unemancipated minor until 48 hours after physician notifies minor's parent/legal guardian, except in medical emergency or with parental waiver.
• Defines abortion as causing "death of the unborn child, a child conceived but not yet born."
• Permits minor to obtain court order waiving notice based on clear, convincing evidence of minor's maturity or best interests.
• Mandates various reporting requirements.
• Authorizes monetary damages against physicians for violation.
• Requires minor's consent to abortion, with certain exceptions.
• Permits judicial relief if minor's consent coerced.
The argument that a 13 year old needs parental consent to get a flu-shot yet doesn’t need consent for an abortion is irrelevant to the argument if a minor should have to have parental notification for an abortion. That’s like saying, you need a license to hunt and a license to fish, but you don’t need a license to be a Father, how does that make sense? This proposition, both Yes and NO votes are to protect the children. It just depends on which stance you believe is correct. My opinion is this. Not all Teenagers have excellent relationships with their parents. Most do not have open relationships enough to tell them they drink, or were drunk at a party etc. How many have open enough relationships to go to their mom or dad and say, “Mom, I messed up. I got pregnant. I need an abortion”? I would say very few (my opinion). Let’s say PROP 73 goes through, and Doctors need to notify Parents 48 hours before the procedure. How many Daughters are going to “face the music”, let the Doctor inform their parents, when they will have the option to go through the same abortion at an illegal (and not as safe) clinic without having to face their Parents? I would rather my Daughter go somewhere safe, sanitary and legal rather than have to go somewhere dirty, because she didn’t want to have to tell me. The #1 priority is for her to be safe. Not for me to know what is going on. While I wish both were true/possible, I would choose the former, rather than the latter.

I’ll give you a somewhat relevant situation in the form of Underage Drinking. What did you do, since you couldn’t drink until you were 21? When you were 15 you went down to 7th and Alvarado (not the safest place) to get a fake ID (also not the safest thing to do since you are dealing with criminals and illegal activity yourself). Once you had this Fake ID, you had to drive to shady areas of town that would accept it (like Altadena Liquor). Now if you didn’t have a fake, you had to go to even shadier places to get booze. Did the fact that you had to be 21 to drink, deter you from drinking? Only in the sense that it made it harder to get, so you have to resort to other means of getting it. Not in the sense that it made you not drink. Is parental notification going to deter Daughters under the age of 18 from having abortions without telling their parents? Only in the sense that it is going to make it difficult to find those places that are willing to not notify. It’s not going to deter them from having abortions or premarital sex.