2008 Woodie Awards
The Indecent Proposition
Prop. 73 would require doctors to notify the parents of minors 48 hours before an abortion.
Jesus Esquivel
Issue date: 10/19/05 Section: Opinion
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How could this have happened to me?
Will everything be alright?
Should I keep it?
Emotions stir and spirituality come to the fore.
Unless you've had an abortion, you can't imagine how trying the ordeal becomes. Whoever authored Proposition 73 must have no idea what it's like to be a desperate, emotionally fragile young girl with a secret to hide. My guess is it was a man.
Prop. 73 would amend the California Constitution to require that health care providers notify parents or legal guardians when non-emancipated minors want abortions.
After notification, minors would wait 48 hours before services could be provided. However, parental consent would still not be required.
Minors who don't want to tell their parents could ask a judge for a waiver. If granted, the minor would still wait 48 hours before receiving services and the waiver would be filed with the state public records.
In addition, physicians will be required to report abortions to the state where numbers would be compiled to form statistics.
Gov. Schwarzenegger backs Prop. 73 and during an interview in September said, "I wouldn't want to have someone take my daughter to a hospital for an abortion or something and not tell me...I would kill him if they do that."
Perhaps after thinking about how many physicians have been killed over the issue, the governor said he did not mean it literally.
Despite the governor's strong stance, Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice California and the ACLU all oppose the initiative. Many other medical and civil rights organizations have also spoken out against it.
The American Academy of Pediatrics believes that, "mandating parental notification does not achieve the intended benefit of promoting family communication, but it does increase the risk of harm to the adolescent by delaying access to appropriate care."
What the governor fails to see is that this initiative will not reduce abortions or encourage family communication.
Will everything be alright?
Should I keep it?
Emotions stir and spirituality come to the fore.
Unless you've had an abortion, you can't imagine how trying the ordeal becomes. Whoever authored Proposition 73 must have no idea what it's like to be a desperate, emotionally fragile young girl with a secret to hide. My guess is it was a man.
Prop. 73 would amend the California Constitution to require that health care providers notify parents or legal guardians when non-emancipated minors want abortions.
After notification, minors would wait 48 hours before services could be provided. However, parental consent would still not be required.
Minors who don't want to tell their parents could ask a judge for a waiver. If granted, the minor would still wait 48 hours before receiving services and the waiver would be filed with the state public records.
In addition, physicians will be required to report abortions to the state where numbers would be compiled to form statistics.
Gov. Schwarzenegger backs Prop. 73 and during an interview in September said, "I wouldn't want to have someone take my daughter to a hospital for an abortion or something and not tell me...I would kill him if they do that."
Perhaps after thinking about how many physicians have been killed over the issue, the governor said he did not mean it literally.
Despite the governor's strong stance, Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice California and the ACLU all oppose the initiative. Many other medical and civil rights organizations have also spoken out against it.
The American Academy of Pediatrics believes that, "mandating parental notification does not achieve the intended benefit of promoting family communication, but it does increase the risk of harm to the adolescent by delaying access to appropriate care."
What the governor fails to see is that this initiative will not reduce abortions or encourage family communication.
