Proposition 85 - The 2006 California Parental Notification Initiative

Cardinal Mahony issues special taped message to Catholics on Proposition 85

Click here for a double-sided insert (PDF Format)

Click here for a one page flyer in [English] and [Spanish] (PDF Format)

What is Priests for Life doing to assist the California ballot initiative? 

Thanks to over 1 million petition signatures, Californians will vote this November to require parental notification prior to an abortion performed on an unemancipated minor.

Years ago, the California Supreme Court struck down a parental involvement law passed by the legislature, claiming that the law violated the state constitution's privacy clause. Proposition 85, if passed this November, would amend the California constitution to specifically mandate parental notification at least 48 hours before a girl's abortion, except in cases of medical emergency or when the minor obtains a judicial waiver.

This year, Proposition 85 proponents intend to make clear a key issue - that adult male predators of vulnerable young girls can more easily cover up their crimes when minors can have secret, state funded abortions without their parents' knowledge. A study of over 46,000 pregnancies of school age girls in California found that over two-thirds involved adult fathers whose mean age was 22.6 years. An examination of law enforcement records shows that Planned Parenthood, while performing tens of thousands of abortions on minor girls, filed almost no reports of sexual abuse or statutory rape.

Over half of the states in the USA have laws in place that require that a parent (or both parents) of a minor who seeks an abortion be notified and, in some cases give their consent, before the abortion can occur.

These parental involvement laws enjoy the support of strong majorities of the American people, who believe that parents have a right to know that their daughter will undergo surgery that kills her child. Most parents also believe that their daughter has the right to be protected against the isolation and pressure in which the abortion "decision" is normally made. After all, the decision is not usually hers, but rather the result of friends, or the baby's father, or abortion clinic personnel telling her it is "the only thing to do."

Some of the states' parental involvement laws are currently tied up in court, and we can always count on the groups that call themselves "pro-choice" to fight hard to deny parental rights. After all, every time a parent intervenes to provide his or her daughter with the strength necessary to do what is right, the abortion business loses a sale. And indeed, parental involvement laws reduce the numbers of abortions.

A few helpful facts to consider:

- A minor cannot be issued an aspirin at school without parental consent.

- A minor cannot go on field trip without parental consent.

- A minor cannot drink, get a tattoo, pierce her body, smoke, or serve in the military without parental consent.

- This initiative would only require parental notification for abortion, not consent.

- A minor cannot be sentenced to death because minors have poor or under-developed judgment, but she can unilaterally decide to have an abortion.

- Parents will be held responsible for any costs or complications stemming from their minor daughter’s abortion.

Parental involvement laws, of course, will not end abortion, but they do limit the effects of an existing immoral abortion policy. In California, the existing policy has resulted in more abortions than in any other state. Let us accept our moral responsibility to support this new parental notification initiative.
 

What is Priests for Life doing to assist the California ballot initiative?

Priests for Life has made the public aware of this initiative by means of our television and radio interviews, letters, and emails. In particular, our educational efforts all year round regarding why parents have a right to know about a minor-age daughter’s abortion are helping pro-life people in the state argue against the pro-aborts.

Priests for Life continues to keep the priests of California – and all the priests across the country – aware of the urgency of ending abortion, and encourages the efforts of the various dioceses in this regard. We also have promoted an awareness of how the abortion industry exploits young girls and teenagers.

Our overall educational activity about elections (www.priestsforlife.org/elections), of course, ties into this ballot initiative and assists people to know how to generate more votes.

Fr. Frank and other members of our Pastoral Team have preached in various parts of California, encouraging parishioners to support this initiative.

SUGGESTED PULPIT ANNOUNCEMENT Re: Proposition 85

On Election Day, November 7, voters in California will have the opportunity to vote on Proposition 85, which will protect the rights of parents to know if their minor daughter has made an appointment to get an abortion. You should vote “Yes” for Proposition 85. Under our current laws a minor girl under the age of 18 cannot leave school without her parents’ permission, even to go on a field trip. She cannot get her ears pierced, or get a tattoo, or get a flu shot, or have a cavity filled. She cannot even receive an aspirin from the school nurse without her parents’ knowledge! Yet that same child can be taken off campus by a stranger to an abortion mill, put under general anesthesia and have a surgical or chemical abortion performed on her without her parents knowledge! This obvious lack of logic in our current law undermines parents’ relationships with their children. Parents have the “right to know” that their child is scheduled for a medical procedure! Beyond this, another sickening issue is being swept under the carpet by our current “right to privacy” abortion law. In a study of over 46,000 pregnancies of school-age girls in California, it was found that over two-thirds were impregnated by adult men whose average age was 22 . So, the “right to privacy” of a 12 or 14 year old girl is currently superseding a “parent’s right to know” and is allowing tens of thousands of cases of statutory rape and incest to go unreported. Over thirty states currently have some form of notification or consent and have seen a dramatic drop in teen abortions and teen pregnancies the very next year as a result of their change in law. In California the Legislative Analyst estimated that parental notification could reduce the number of abortions in our state by 5,000-10,000 per year. Thank you for your support and prayers. Remember to vote “Yes” on Proposition 85 on November 7, and get as many others as possible to do so as well.