California Needs Proposition 85

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On July 30, 2004, Diana Lopez received a call from her daughter’s middle school, informing her that her 13-year-old daughter had been taken to the hospital because she was bleeding. By the time Diana found out where her daughter had actually been taken, a Planned Parenthood abortion center, her young daughter was already undergoing an abortion—orchestrated by her boyfriend’s mother and Planned Parenthood staff. Diana had not known that her daughter was pregnant or contemplating an abortion. Had Diana known of her daughter’s pregnancy, she would have encouraged and assisted her to have her baby rather than undergo a secret abortion.

THE PROBLEM: In California, a girl under age 18 can’t get a flu shot, a cavity filled, or an aspirin dispensed by the school nurse without a parent knowing. But a doctor can perform a surgical or chemical abortion on a young girl without informing a parent.

THE SOLUTION: Proposition 85 will require that a physician notify in writing a parent or guardian at least 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor girl.

California needs Proposition 85 because:

• Parents know their children’s needs best. Parents have invested time and attention in raising their daughter; they care about her future. Parents can help a minor daughter understand all her options rather than be pressured into a secret abortion.

• A young girl who is pregnant needs the advice and support of a parent, not a stranger who profits from abortions.
• On a daily basis, older men exploit young girls and use secret abortions to cover up their crimes.
• More than thirty states currently have parental involvement laws like proposition 85 in effect.
• States which have laws like proposition 85 have experienced real reductions in pregnancies and abortions among minor girls.

Opponents FALSELY CLAIM that minors
from abusive homes will be harmed
by Propostion 85.

The truth is:

• PROPOSITION 85 allows a minor to petition the juvenile court for a waiver. In a confidential proceeding, she can ask the court to find that notifying her parents is not in her best interests.
• PROPOSITION 85 provides that, as part of a waiver proceeding, the juvenile court report evidence of abuse to the appropriate child protection agency, so that the problem can be addressed, not covered up.
• Abortion providers rarely report evidence of statutory rape, sexual abuse, or molestation to child protective services. Instead they provide a secret, taxpayer-funded abortion, and the minor returns to the same abusive environment—vulnerable to further exploitation, pregnancies, abortions, and sexually transmitted disease.
• PROPOSITION 85 also protects minor girls from being coerced to have an abortion. It provides young pregnant girls access to the juvenile court to protect them from threats or violence. Opponents FALSELY CLAIM that Proposition 85 threatens teens’ health and safety.

The truth is:

• PROPOSITION 85 ensures that parents are able to assist their minor daughters in seeking good medical care—rather than being pressured, tricked, or coerced to have an abortion.
• The experience of over 30 states, going back well over a decade, has PROVED that parental involvement laws reduce pregnancies and abortions WITHOUT DANGER OR HARM TO MINORS.

Fact: The abortion rate for minors dropped 25.6% in the two years following enactment of a parental involvement law in Virginia.

Fact: Pennsylvania’s teen pregnancy rate dropped by 18.7% the year following enactment of a parental involvement law.

Fact: A study of over 46,000 pregnancies of school-age girls in California found that over two-thirds were impregnated by adult men whose mean age was 22.6 years.

Fact: California abortionist Ivan Nahimas committed repeated acts of sexual abuse on patients over more than three decades. After the Medical Board began formal proceedings to revoke his license, over 200 victims stepped forward to say that they, too, had been abused by Nahimas. Abortionist Lawrence Reich continued practicing in Los Angeles for years after being convicted of sexually abusing a patient.

Fact: The Los Angeles Times reported that many abortion businesses are “chop shops” where substandard care results in injury and death.

Fact: Parental involvement laws on average reduce the number of abortions on teens by 15 percent while also reducing the overall teen pregnancy rate.

Fact: California’s Legislative Analyst estimated that parental notification could reduce minors’ abortions up to 25%.

Fact: In California, where minors can receive secret, free (taxpayer-funded) abortions as often as they wish, the number of minors’ abortions is the highest in the country.

To CONTRIBUTE to or VOLUNTEER for the YES ON 85 Campaign or to GET information and campaign materials: GO to www.YESon85.net, or

CALL toll-free 866-828-8355 or MAIL to: YES on 85, 1703 India Street, San Diego CA 92101