Abortions without parental notification

Presidential politics has dominated so much of the public attention lately, it’s almost hard to believe anything else has been happening. But while the world was focused on America’s historical, albeit, racist presidential campaign, Washington wasn’t the only place where hypocrisy reared its cruel head.

After all the votes were counted, it appeared that the country was still relatively conservative, especially on social issues. Nebraska voted to end affirmative action in state hiring practices. Arkansas voted to ban unmarried couples from adopting. California, Florida, and Arizona voters chose to ban same-sex marriage, making 30 states that ban same-sex marriage. Only two states allow same-sex marriage and a handful recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships.

The hottest race of the season was on this very question of same-sex marriage. Earlier this year, a court in California overturned an initiative from 2000 that defined marriage as between one man and one woman. Immediately, a campaign was organized, a Constitutional amendment was written, signatures were gathered, volunteers made calls, sent letters, blogged, and went door to door to gather support for Proposition 8, Prop 8 would succeed where its predecessor had failed.

Followthemoney.org reported that $73 Million was spent on this one campaign, making it the single largest race after the presidential campaign, and more than twice what was spent on Prop 8 than in the 24 states that voted on the issue in 2004. As of 10:08 p.m., November 9th, California’s Secretary of State wrote that the measure to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry was passing with 52.3% of the vote. There are still about 2.7 million votes to be counted, but observers are confident that the measure will pass.

Preventing gays from marrying and adopting may be a great success. The gays were stopped cold before they could erode the social fabric that holds Western civilization together. But wait, efforts to restrict abortion failed in South Dakota, Colorado, and California, and to say that Mr. Obama is pro-choice is kind of like saying the Pope is a kinda religious. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are no friends of the fetus either.

So, how can we celebrate the victory of stopping 18,000 consenting, adult couples from entering into a private, social contract with one another, when 94,602 unborn babies were aborted in California in 2005?


Another social issue was placed on the California ballot this year. Proposition 4 would have prevented physicians from performing abortions on girls under 18 until 48 hours after the parents had been notified. Most states require some sort of parental involvement before an abortion on a minor can be performed. California is not one of them. Prop 4 was the third time in four years that Californians were asked if parents should be involved when a minor gets an abortion. The measure was defeated 52.1 to 47.9.

Almost 90% of abortions are performed in the first 12 weeks. Roughly 19% are done for minors. In the first 56 days, RU-486 can be used. RU-486 is a drug that blocks progesterone and the embryo starves as the nutrient lining disintegrates. When drugs will not work, surgery is used and involves taking a long piece of metal with a knife-sharp loop, inserting it in to the woman’s uterus, and “dismembering the fetus.” The remains of the fetus, placenta, and uterine lining are then vacuumed out.

Supporters of Prop 8 included a “broad based coalition of California families, community leaders, religious leaders, pro-family organizations and individuals from all walks of life.” Their web site states that, “Passing Proposition 8 protects our children…”

And to protect our children, an amazing $2.6 million was raised in support of Proposition 4; almost half of what those in opposition raised and less than 1/10 of what was raised for Prop 8. One of the flyers for Prop 8 says, “Secures parental rights to teach children about relationships according to their own values and beliefs.” It talks about a “stable, flourishing, and loving society.” “The sanctity of marriage is worth defending and protecting.” “Proposition 8 protects our children.”

The NY Times wrote that,

The Rev. Joel Hunter, an evangelical pastor in Florida, said many religious conservatives felt more urgency about stopping same-sex marriage than about abortion, another hotly contested issue long locked in a stalemate.

“There is enough of the population that is alarmed at the general breakdown of the family, that has been so inundated with images of homosexual relationships in all of the media,” said Mr. Hunter, who gave the benediction at the Democratic National Convention this year, yet supported the same-sex marriage ban in his state. “It’s almost like it’s obligatory these days to have a homosexual couple in every TV show or every movie.”

Are they serious? What is more fundamental to protecting the family than protecting life? How can we protect our children if we don’t know that they’re having sex, let alone an abortion? How can we be appalled that at tiny-tiny minority wants to have the same rights, obligations, and recognition as the rest of us and then idly sit by as Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the rest of the pro-abortion crowd promote abortion as fancy birth control and a abuse a woman’s right to choose. What happened to a person’s right to choose – not to have sex?

According to a January 2008 report from the Guttmacher Institute,

At current rates, about one in three American women will have had an abortion by the time she reaches age 45. Moreover, a broad cross section of U.S. women have abortions. 57% of women having abortions are in their 20s; 60% have one or more children; 86% are unmarried; 57% are economically disadvantaged; 88% live in a metropolitan area; and 78% report a religious affiliation [emphasis added]. No racial or ethnic group makes up a majority: 41% of women obtaining abortions are white non-Hispanic, 32% are black non-Hispanic, 20% are Hispanic and 7% are of other racial backgrounds.

In 2005, California experienced an abortion rate nearly 40% higher than the national average. And yet, people went door-to-door, raised tons of money, and acted in a bigoted and ignorant way towards others who simply wanted to be acknowledged.

Whether you agree with same-sex marriage or not, we have to prioritize our efforts. Gay marriage is an issue our culture is addressing right now, but we fired an entire political party over the deaths of several thousand soldiers in a conflict to bring stability to a volatile corner of the planet. How can we not rise up in revolution over the main stream acceptance of allowing a minor to abort her baby without parental involvement? How can we not scream from the tops of the roofs at the hypocrisy of protecting our children by teaching them bigotry and then not being there when they have surgery or take drugs? Prop 4 neither accepted nor rejected abortion. It said, young lady, this is a big decision, and your doctor must give your parents notification before performing this serious medical procedure.

Prop 8 is an empty victory.

Supporters of Proposition 8 did not defend the family or strengthen the social fabric of the nation. They chose the easy victory and failed to take adequate steps to try to defend life. And one of the most culpable groups for the failure of Prop 4 was the religious organizations that gave so generously to keep their definition of marriage sacred while being dramatically absent on Prop 4. Where were the letters from the pulpit urging their congregations to give generously of their time, their money, and their efforts? Where were their efforts to secures parental rights to teach children according to their own values and beliefs, to promote stable, flourishing, and loving society, and to protect our children?