Thursday, February 26, 2009

Parental Notification in California: "Sarah's Law" update

From today's San Francisco Chronicle comes the good news that Californians support parental notification on abortion by a very wide margin:


"A majority of Californians favor notifying parents when minors seek an abortion, according to a survey released Wednesday that contradicts the results of three statewide elections.
More News

The Public Policy Institute of California poll suggests attitudes are shifting toward more abortion restrictions in certain circumstances, although a majority of Californians still favor abortion rights.


The telephone survey of 2,502 Californians found 68 percent favor a state law requiring that parents or guardians be notified before a girl under age 18 can get an abortion. The limit was favored by majorities regardless of political party, region, race or ethnicity.

In November, California voters defeated a proposal to limit abortions among underage girls for the third time in four years. But the percentage opposed to the initiative shrank to 52 percent, down from 54 percent opposed in 2005 and 56 percent opposed in 2006."


These trends are good and we must not get discouraged. But how do we square these poll results with the diametrically opposite electoral results in November?

Well, the "Yes on Proposition 4" campaign was outspent by 18 million dollars--$21 million to $3 million. This allowed the No on 4 campaign and the Party of Death to flood the airwaves with their own version of what the election was about. The poll shows us the good common sense of Californians--the election results show what $21 million can do.

No comments: