Parental notification law is defeated in California

By PETER HECHT
Friday, November 10, 2006
After a parental notification law for abortion was defeated by the closest margin of any state ballot initiative in last year's special election, supporters were convinced they could win in a general election with a more diverse voter turnout.

But Proposition 85, which would have required doctors to notify a parent or guardian before performing an abortion on a girl under 18, went down to defeat Tuesday by 54 percent to 46 percent. The margin was slightly wider than the 2005 version, Proposition 73.

According to exit polls, the initiative actually won among the people it seemed to target: Parents with children under 18 years old approved the measure by 52 to 48 percent. But voters without children under 18 at home rejected it, 57 to 43 percent.

A year ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger embraced Proposition 73, famously declaring: "I have a daughter. I wouldn't want to have someone take my daughter for an abortion or something and not tell me. I would kill him if they do that."

But this year, the governor all but ran away from Proposition 85, leaving his media managers to say California voters had already decided the issue.

"I don't know what he was thinking," said Katie Short, a Ventura County lawyer who helped draft both propositions 73 and 85. "...Maybe he decided it wasn't going to a factor in his winning this year. So why take the personal flack?"

Proposition 85 was largely bankrolled by James Holman, publisher of the San Diego Readers and a chain of Catholic newspapers. He contributed more than $2.6 million to the initiative, after donating $1.2 million to the Prop 73 campaign.

But parental notification opponents, led by Planned Parenthood and Affiliates, raised more than $5.4 million to defeat the measure.

"I think that California voters recognized that this is an emotional issue, but when it comes right down to it doesn't work in the real world," said Planned Parenthood President Kathy Kneer.

While Schwarzenegger himself was winning handily, California voters otherwise were voting with a decided leaning toward the Democratic Party, which supports abortion rights.

Nationally, as Democrats retook the House of Representatives, a parental notification measure was defeated in Oregon and a measure that would have banned most abortions lost in South Dakota. Meanwhile, an attorney general candidate who had sought to access to patient records from abortion clinics lost a re-election bid in Kansas.

"I think clearly the country is steadfast in its commitment to reproductive rights for women," Kneer said. "The Republicans went too far, too fast. They're not in step with the country."

Don Sebastiani, a Sonoma County wine producer and a former state lawmaker who contributed $425,000 to Proposition 85, said: "I think it's amazing that it did worse this time."

Sebastiani, who said proponents are unsure whether they will resurrect the initiative, said "a stiff wind in favor of the Democrats" appeared to override efforts by Proposition 85 supporters to score inroads among mostly Democratic Latino constituencies.

Proponents, including the Catholic Church, conducted voter outreach efforts in Latino, mostly Catholic neighborhoods. Cardinal Roger Mahoney taped an Oct. 1 sermon urging parishioners in the Los Angeles archdiocese to vote yes on 85.

Latino voters ended up splitting 50-50 on the initiative, according to exit polls.

While Republican voters favored the measure by 73 to 27 percent, Democrats voted it down by 72 to 28 percent and independents rejected it by 63 to 37 percent.

Mark DiCamillo, director of the California Field Poll said the deciding factor may simply have been that voters felt they had already rendered a decision last year.

"I think voters said, 'I thought we already decided this,'" DiCamillo said. "I think that factors in the second time around."