California Gov. Schwarzenegger Supports Abortion Notification Proposal 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 26, 2005
Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) — At first, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he supported the principle of Proposition 73 that would require notifying parents of a minor teen about her potential abortion. Now, the governor has endorsed the measure that California voters will consider in November.
Schwarzenegger announced his official position on all of the ballot issues and indicated he backs Proposition 73, which requires abortion facilities to notify the parents of a teen when she’s considering an abortion.
"Just as the law involves parents in all other medical decisions with a child, he doesn’t believe abortion should be any different," a spokesman for the governor, who supports abortion, said in a statement.
Though he has endorsed the initiative, the governor won’t actively campaign for it. Still, his support drew complaints from abortion advocates, including Planned Parenthood, which released a statement bashing Schwarzenegger and claiming teenagers would be at risk by making sure their parents helped them during a pregnancy.
Earlier last week, Schwarzenegger, who has two teenage daughters and two preteen sons, told the Sacramento Bee, "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."
After saying he didn’t mean he would literally kill someone, Schwarzenegger added, "It will be the ultimate of being outraged about it and angry about it."
He told the Sacramento Bee newspaper that his children’s schools "call us about everything" and he would want to be notified if one of his daughters was considering an abortion.
"They call me when my daughter falls off the jungle gym in the school and they say, ‘What do you want us to use? Can we put a Band-Aid on it? Do you want to come in? She’s crying a little bit,’" he explained.
"They call us about everything. I don’t want them in that particular incident not to call us," the governor added.
That’s the same sentiment expressed by Monty Patterson, the father of Holly Patterson, who died in September 2003 after using an abortion drug she obtained from a Bay Area Planned Parenthood. Patterson strongly supports Proposition 73 and wants parents to not be left in the dark about an abortion.
He didn’t know about the abortion drugs Holly took until she developed severe complications from it.
The measure also requires abortion practitioners to keep statistics on the number of abortions performed on minors and failure to do so would result in fines.
Polls show there will be a very close vote on the ballot proposal.
Related web sites:
Tell a Parent – https://www.ParentsRight2Know.org
