A California group called Californians for Parental Rights has launched a petition effort to ensure that California will become the 40th state in the nation to require parental notification before a minor can get an abortion. They need almost 600,00 hard copy signatures before December 15 in order to qualify for a space on the 2016 ballot in the state.
The group says:
The Parental Notification initiative will require that a physician notify a parent at least 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor girl under the age of 18 (with a judicial bypass for cases of parental abuse).
Further, Californians for Parental Rights, points out the tragic irony of California’s laws:
In California, a girl under age 18 can’t get a cavity filled, or an aspirin dispensed by the school nurse without a parent knowing. But a physician’s assistant, nurse, or midwife can perform an abortion on a young girl without informing a parent.
Their quest is not unique; a majority of states already have this common-sense law in place. And Californians for Parental Rights says that similar laws in other states “have proven effective in deterring sexual exploitation of minor girls as shown by reductions in pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among minor children.”
The group reports that approximately 20,000 abortions per year are performed on minor girls in California; this is 20 percent of all abortions performed on minors in the nation.
This ballot initiative isn’t simply about abortion, however. It’s also about the abuse and exploitation of minors. Californians for Parental Rights notes that the lack of a parental notification law makes it easier for “poor, minority, and immigrant girls, [who] are vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation by older male predators [to] cover up their crimes with secret abortions and then continue the sexual exploitation.”
And not only does California not require parental notification; it also pays for minors to abort their babies, as Californians for Parental Rights points out:
California state government provides state taxpayer funding to perform secret abortions on minor children without parental notification.
The group must have the required number of signatures by December 15 and is furiously trying to get petitions sent to churches and groups in the state who will sign it. Californians for Parental Rights has “petition depots” throughout the state, and will send petitions to those who request them. They also have downloadable banners, pastor statements, petition information, and other resources for concerned citizens to help make this proposed initiative law.
