Parental notification laws never really made sense to me. Let's say you believe that abortion is a scary, potentially traumatic surgery, and parents should know if their daughter seeks one out. Isn't birthing and raising a child equally anxiety-provoking, infinitely more permanent, and much more difficult in the long run? And yet, nobody suggests pregnant teens get a permission slip from mom and dad to carry to term. And of course, no one suggests teenagers get written permission from their parents when they're just considering pregnancy, say, by engaging in unprotected intercourse.
In any case, nobody asked me, so parental notification is on the ballot next week in California, as Prop 4. Let's check-in with the debate. Here's a handy chart that will show you the legal wrangles and "waiting periods" a California girl will have to go through to either obtain her parents' permission for an abortion or get a judicial bypass. Sounds like a terrible first introduction to the legal system. The anti-Prop 4 ad raises the specter that girls will opt for back alley abortions rather than go through the steps imposed by the measure. The pro-Prop 4 ad smartly avoids abortion politics by having an actor play a "child predator" who has sex with teen girls and then takes them to get abortions.
Hat tip: Feministe
Previous ballot initiative ad features: Michigan stem cell research - Gay marriage in Arizona and Florida - North Dakota abortion ban - Colorado “right to work” - Colorado's “personhood” amendment - California's anti-gay marriage amendment
--Dana Goldstein
