Voters in California Reject Proposition 73 Parental Notification on Abortion 
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 9, 2005
Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) — Teenagers and their parents in California lost a major battle on Tuesday night with the defeat of Proposition 73. Voters in the Golden State rejected the state constitutional amendment to require parental notification for an abortion.
To some, the vote wasn’t surprising given California’s pro-abortion bent.
"Tonight, parents and families all over the country lost out to the powerful interests of Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry, which for too long has led children into abortions without the counsel and loving care of their parents," said Bill May, Chairman of Catholics for the Common Good.
With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, voters defeated Proposition 73 by a 47.4 to 52.6 margin.
California voters living in Los Angeles and along the Pacific coast were largely responsible for the measure’s defeat. Voters living in Orange County, San Diego and inland counties mostly supported the measure.
Don Sebastiani, a former assemblyman who helped finance the signature-gathering effort to put the constitutional amendment on the ballot, told the Associated Press, "It’s just common sense and it makes sense for California families as well as anywhere else in America.”
Pro-life groups had hoped the measure would help parents help their daughters choose abortion alternatives. In other states with similar laws in place, teen abortions have been reduced by as much as 30 percent or more.
"Prop 73 was a proposal to do what is working well in 34 other states," May explained. "Unfortunately, the financial interests of Planned Parenthood’s doctors and management prevailed over that of children, parents, and families in California."
Proposition 73 may have fared better in the polls had it not been combined in an election focusing solely on a group of initiatives on other issues that were rejected soundly by California voters. Of all the measures up for consideration, it received the most votes.
Steve Smith, campaign manager for the Planned Parenthood-backed Campaign for Teen Safety, applauded the measure’s defeat and claimed the abortion business is committed to making sure parents know about a teen’s abortion.
