The Real Story Behind CA's Parental Notification Push

Yes on 4, the group pushing California's latest parental notification ballot initiative, calls it "Sarah's Law."

Voters in California are being asked to approve or reject an amendment to the California constitution that mandates a doctor notify an unemancipated minor's parents, in the form of written notification, 48 hours prior to the young woman undergoing an abortion.

The Yes on 4 campaign, as the anti-choice movement is wont to do, relies on the power of personal dramatic storytelling to sell the initiative. "Sarah" is the pseudonym for a 15-year-old teen who died in 1994 of complications resulting from a post-abortion infection. The campaign asserts that if "Sarah"s" family had known of her abortion, they would have been able to step in sooner to help her access emergency care, saving her life. But the story has been completely debunked. According to the Los Angeles Times, and as Scott Swenson wrote on this site, "Sarah's" death could not have been prevented by passage of this law. In fact, "Sarah" was a young woman who was 1) already emancipated from her parents and 2) not a resident of California, therefore not covered under the proposed amendment.

And while the opposition campaign, Campaign for Teen Safety, lobbied to have the story stricken from ballot guides in August of this year, a Sacramento judge ruled that the name and description of the measure could remain on the official ballot guides, citing the rule that ballot initiative language can engage in "hyperbole" to make its case.

The proposed amendment, while mandating notification of parents of minors, does offer exceptions. If a young woman wishes to notify an adult who is not her legal guardian or to bypass notification altogether, she needs to write a letter to a judge outlining the reasons why she feels her parents are unfit to be notified and detailing the "abuse" at the hands of her parent(s).Then, she must stand before a court, explain her pregnancy and the abuse issues, and finally, obtain written notification from the alternate adult if the judge allows.

Ask Alvin Rhomberg, a spokesperson for the Yes on 4 campaign (funded almost entirely by two conservative religious businessmen, Jim Holman and Don Sebastiani), why this initiative is needed and he'll use the opportunity to focus on sexual predators and "secret abortions." Rhomberg says the proposition is critical because Planned Parenthood "conceals sexual predators" by not reporting instances when minors visit their clinics and cite pregnancy as a result of a rape or sexual assault by an older male. The home page of the campaign web site warns, "On a daily basis, older men exploit young girls and use secret abortions to cover up their crimes."

It's a claim backed up by no verifiable statistics and one that makes little sense if you think for a moment about the relationship between providers and their patients.For providers, the first step when hearing claims of rape or sexual assault is to investigate it with the young woman herself. In fact, "reporting" these claims without the consent of the patient would violate doctor/patient confidentiality. And this sexual predator scenario simply does not ring true with health care providers themselves.

Peg Johnston, Executive Director of Southern Tier Women's Services, and founder of a web site that encourages communication between young women and their parents, "Mom, Dad, I'm Pregnant", says, "In my 27 years of practice I cannot remember one case that would fit the sexual predator scenario."

The Yes on 4 campaign has used the fear to their advantage. First there's the YouTube video featuring the story of what they say is a "14 year old girl who was raped repeatedly by a 39 year old male" taken to Planned Parenthood twice, but the clinic never reported the "predator."Additionally, the campaign has used the support of two California District Attorneys -- Rod Pacheco and Tony Rackauckas -- to focus attention on the sexual predator scenario. Rhomberg tells me that Pacheco "was on the show To Catch A Predator, where they lure the sexual predators to catch them. He was the first to cooperate and said he would have all of the sexual predators arrested and prosecuted." Rhomberg goes on to say that California is "experiencing increasing activity of this kind because of the internet, cell phones and coaches ... and one thing this initiative has done is bring these issues to light."