Continue Voting No

Proposition 4 was called Proposition 73 in 2005, and it got voted down. It was called Proposition 85 in 2006, and met the same fate. Now, it appears on the ballot again with essentially the same language, and it continues to be a bad idea. I'm getting pretty tired of these people trying to tell me how my family should be. If a minor is seeking an abortion, and she hasn't told her parents, has it occurred to any of the supporters of this measure to ask why she isn't telling her parents? I'm sure all the supporters grew up in nurturing supportive families. But guess what? Not everybody has that luxury.

The argument in favor of Proposition 4 that appears in the Voter Information Guide says, “When abortions are kept secret, adult sexual predators go free.” My question is this: what the Hell are you talking about? Really, that's a pretty roundabout connection. Here's another connection: when people are faced with restrictions, they find ways to circumvent those restrictions. The speed limit on the freeway is 65 miles per hour. We drive 70. Marijuana is illegal. We smoke it anyway. The drinking age is 21. I got drunk for the first time when I was 16.

When a minor pregnant girl circumvents a restriction on getting an abortion without notifying her parents, the results could be catastrophic for her. This law isn't going to save any lives, and it's not going to put any sexual predators in prison. It's going to drive young girls to coat hangers and shop vacs instead of abortion clinics staffed with doctors and professionals. Further, it's going to allow the religious zealots that are trying to take over this country to begin to whittle away at abortion rights.

Here's a little food for thought. Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner makes an interesting connection. The Roe v. Wade decision, which essentially legalized abortion in the United States, was written by the US Supreme Court in 1973. Within 20 years, the crime rate dropped nationwide. Levitt and Dubner suggest in Freakonomics that a connection may exist. Abortion leads to fewer children born into situations where they are not wanted. Unwanted children have a higher tendency towards crime, on account of not growing up in loving homes. Fewer unwanted children, therefore, may lead to less crime. When coupled with evidence presented in the book, this argument is fairly compelling. The book is fascinating, and I highly recommend it.

The people who oppose abortion and work to get it made illegal are the same people who champion abstinence-only sex education. They want no abortion, no birth control, and they expect kids to listen when they're told not to have sex. I'm sure that will be a highly effective means of preventing teen pregnancy, just like posting a sign that says the speed limit is 65 miles per hour. If you want to fix the problem of children with bad parents, eliminating options for “family planning” is not the way to do it. Maybe instead, everybody should be required to use birth control until they take and pass a parenting class and demonstrate that they are qualified to reproduce and take care of their children. But let's not make new laws that will encourage more breeding and building of dysfunctional family situations.