Voters in Alaska will consider a ballot measure next week that would require a teenage girls' parents to be notified two days before she gets an abortion, unless she goes to court or brings a notarized letter claiming abuse at home.
It is, of course, designed to limit teenage girls' rights, and there's nothing new about this. What does seem new is the name of the group opposing the ballot measure: Alaskans Against Government Mandates. It's not a women's health rights group, it's a group that rightly points out this is a new government mandate that will impinge upon freedom. I've been waiting for some time for conservatives to address the core hypocrisy in their platform: the idea that government regulation is bad unless it involves regulating women's bodies. The group is only organized around this issue and obviously includes abortion-rights activities, but the messaging on the "about" page says this:
We are a rapidly growing coalition of teachers, nurses, doctors, social workers, Planned Parenthood supporters, faith leaders and others who are working to defeat Ballot Measure 2, a dangerous new mandate that puts the government into the middle of our families.
That's a brilliant appropriation of the often successful language conservatives use, and it could only be made better if it were adopted by abortion-rights groups around the country.
-- Monica Potts
