Limited access

Okay, the one thing that could coax me into blogging, and that's something from the Associate Press wire that's so outrageous, I can't be silent.

I get an e-mail notice when news or articles about certain topics hit the wire. Often I'm too busy to deal with them, as I am now, but this one's title just set me off and I had to read the full text of the article to see if I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing.

Yep. I was.

Abortion opponents hope to limit access for California girls

SAN FRANCISCO - Abortion opponents in California have tried for over two decades to make it harder for girls to terminate pregnancies without their parents' knowledge. In the special election called by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, they may finally get their chance.

Among the most hotly contested of the eight initiatives on the November ballot is a constitutional amendment that would require doctors to give parents or guardians written notice 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor.

Adults would not have to consent to the procedure, but sponsors hope the notification requirement would reduce California's teen abortion rate - the nation's fourth-highest - by getting parents in on the decision.

Excuse me?

Am I reading this correctly?

California minor girls are currently allowed to have an abortion without their parents' knowledge or consent? And they're trying to push through a bill requiring abortion docs to inform parents... not even getting their consent, just letting them know... huh?

I wonder what the laws in California are about body piercings and tattoos?

For that matter, what about the death penalty? I'll bet they don't dole THAT out to minors, do they? So minors ARE capable of making a decision to undergo a major medical procedure which murders another human being, but they can't be held fully responsible in the decision to murder another human being who's already been born.

Anyway, the Planned Parenthood crowd is up-in-arms about it, as one might expect.

If the measure passes, California would become the 16th state with a parental notification law (another 19 require parental consent.) But given its size, "blue" state sensibilities and status among the dwindling number of states where girls have unfettered access to abortion, national abortion rights advocates are concerned, especially as President Bush fills two vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I hope it's not a bellwether and I hope it doesn't pass," said Dr. Wendy Chavkin, chairwoman of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, which is dispatching doctors to debates and public meetings as part of the No on 73 campaign.

Though opponents are optimistic that the amendment will fail, Californians have expressed conservative leanings at the ballot box before, and the notion of parental notification resonates with many voters who favor legalized abortion, but don't think it's out of line for the state to help a 13-year-old's parents learn that she's pregnant.

HELLO!!! I would want to know if someone had been sexually assaulting my CHILD!! Are these PP-types not mandatory reporters? Doesn't this qualify? I don't get it.

This is about parents' rights," said Cindy Moles, who directs the anti-abortion group Concerned Women of America's activities in San Diego, Imperial and Riverside counties. "In California you can't let your daughter get her ears pierced without parental permission, and yet she can get a not-insignificant surgical procedure with someone else making the decisions."

Yep, just what I thought. Makes a whole lot of sense, doesn't it? The suck-em-into-the-sink advocates have really got our sense of right and wrong turned completely inside-out.

Equally disturbing to Maggie Crosby, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, is a clause in the amendment defining abortion as a procedure that "causes the death of the unborn child." Inserting that label into the state Constitution, rather than a medical term such as fetus or embryo, "can have far-reaching consequences on everything from stem cell research to fertility treatments and it's totally unnecessary to the definition of abortion," Crosby said.

No, no, no... don't tell people THE TRUTH, for heaven's sake. You BET it would have far-reaching consequences. The truth tends to do that.

The last line of the article is a typical punch-the-straw-man tack:

"People realize you can't amend the Constitution to force teens to talk to their parents," said Kathy Kneer, executive director of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.

Re-define the issue, Kathy. This is all about parents being out-of-touch with their teenagers. Strain that gnat and ignore those camels.

This is not about rebellious teenagers. "Those darn kids, they just gotta rebel, nothing you can do about it." Nope, this is waaaaaaaay more than rebellion. This is about the life of your daughter who's being sexually violated (willing or no, she's not old enough to legally consent to such activities, so it's assault), and it's about the life of a baby who did not choose to be created and who doesn't merit the death penalty simply for being.