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Originally posted by Spanky
Here is a letter that I received that I agree with.


REASONS TO VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 73 – Parental Notification and Waiting Period Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy.


Proposition 73 on the California November 8th Ballot will require parental consent for young women to get an abortion. The requirement of parental consent for this very serious decision sounds right. But through the work that I have been doing for the last 15 years with Teen Success, a program for teenage mothers coordinated by Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, I’ve seen the devastating, dysfunctional, and abusive situations that too many pregnant teenage girls are facing.

Some of these girls do not have a parent to ask for help or permission. They may live with a sister or in foster care. The option of going to a judge in our overcrowded courts is scary enough for an adult; just think of what it would be like for a scared teenager who may not speak English or understand our judicial system. This process will take longer (if it happens at all) than the first trimester in many cases. And, there are teenagers who do not realize they are pregnant for several months. The girl may have been impregnated by an uncle, a step-father or friend of the family. In my experience, if theses young girls were to go to a parent they are risking further abuse. Ministers, doctors and clinicians can testify to this.

These young women and their parents, if they have one or two, are unlikely to vote at any election, much less on this important Proposition. I believe it is my job to tell their story and defend their privacy, medical access, and their safety.

Proposition 73 will also endanger physicians like our daughter, an OB-GYN, who will no longer have patient/physician privacy rights. She must report to a parent immediately upon determining that a teenage patient is pregnant. She must also report to the California State Department of Health Services if an abortion is performed, with or without parental permission. This exposure to potential investigation by anti-abortion fanatics is serious for all physicians, but especially for practicing Obstetrician/Gynecologists.

The people who do vote are those who, in most cases, have good relationships with their daughters. They simply do not understand the problems that exist for the young girls such as those that I see at Teen Success. I had hoped we were past coat hangers and back alleys. My concern is that Proposition 73 will leave many young girls from difficult family situations without good medical options. I fear for their safety.

PLEASE read the text of Proposition 73. It would put into our California Constitution definitions and requirements never before accepted by voters.

PLEASE pass this message on to your friends and VOTE NO on Proposition 73 – either on your Absentee Ballot or at your Polling Place on Tuesday, November 8th.

Sincerely,

Becky Morgan

I dissent, but I don't have the energy to be more specific. Perhaps one day in another land we will dine, al fresco, and can discuss.....