So I know that all these Propositions are confusing and while voting for President on Nov. 4th is of the utmost importance, please do not overlook these important state propositions. (I’m sorry for not covering other state’s props, I live here so these are the ones I know. But I encourage you to research the props of whatever state you’re in because they do and will affect your life). From now until the election, we’ll cover as many California propositions as possible, with our opinion on them. While it doesn’t matter what we think, we hope this helps you seek out further knowledge and to make informed decisions.

PROP 4

Proposition 4 is a parental-notification measure relating to abortion. Basically the law would require girls under 18 to notiify their parents 48 hours before the procedure. While this sounds harmless, the incidence of underage girls receiving cruel punishment from abusive parents upon this admission is too prevalent to dismiss. The whole basis for the so-called “Sarah’s Law” is that a 15 year old girl died from a bad abortion 14 years ago and that she might not have died if her parents had known about her pregnancy. According to the LA Times however, this girl didn’t live in CA (she lived in Texas) and that she was in a common-law marriage and already had a child (which would have precluded her from being covered by this law anyway). And her name wasn’t even Sarah.

What they want this to sound like is something to protect underage girls from dying. The real impetus behind the bill is to put more road blocks in front of a woman’s right to choose. A fifteen year old girl is no more at risk of death from an abortion than an eighteen or twenty two year old. And there is no evidence that underage girls in California are being harmed by abortions, regardless of parental notification. Even worse, underage girls who fear telling their parents about their pregnancies may defer medical care, or even worse, try to self abort.

There is no law that can mandate family communication, and this law would cause harm that it would help.

Some notable organizations AGAINST PROP 4 are:
- many Planned Parenthood affiliates (including Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Orange, Riverside, and Pasadena)
- California Teacher’s Association
- California Family Health Council
- ACLU, Northern California and Southern California

The Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle publicy oppose Prop 4. Read a great article on Prop 4 in the LA Times: HERE.