Blog and Vote: No on California Proposition 85

I'm going to interrupt my mindless NaNoWriMo-induced NaBloPoMo blogging to help get the word out to California bloggers and voters about Proposition 85.

I just got off a conference call with Margaret C. Crosby, an attorney with the ACLU. The conference call was put together by Stefania Pomponi Butler of CityMama. Thanks, Stefania! Crosby spoke to a group of bloggers about Proposition 85.

In a nutshell, Prop 85 "would prohibit abortions for California teens until 48 hours after their parents have been notified." Pregnant teenage girls who didn't feel they could go to their family for this consent would be forced to try and obtain a court order from a judge. That's just ridiculous. What teenager (especially one who may come from an abusive home and doesn't feel comfortable talking with her own parents about her pregnancy and desire to have an abortion) would go into court and make an appointment to see a judge to explain her situation? Please.

I am pro-choice. I'm open with this opinion and I've blogged about it before. I'm not writing this post to try and argue my stance or to change your opinion if you are not pro-choice. Rather, I am doing what I can to alert my pro-choice California readers to a ballot initiative that you may not know about because of this year's--as Crosby puts it--"cluttered ballot."

If there's any way I can change your mind and get you to vote pro-choice when you otherwise wouldn't have, that's great, too.

My blood pressure rises just thinking about the ludicracy of the process that would be put in place by this proposition. And as a pro-choice advocate, I also fear what would happen if California fails to defeat this initiative. We are a pro-choice state and also one of the largest. What further erosion of our freedoms, perhaps even on a nationwide level, would occur if we allow this proposition to pass? It frightens me to think what future generations of young women might have to do to avoid having to deal with parental consent or with a judicial review. Illegal abortions, unwanted pregnancies... to me, these things aren't preferred to the idea that teenage girls deserve the right to decide what's best for them and to receive the medical care they need.

If we want to help young women, we would have more opportunities for them in our schools, churches, and youth centers to discuss their sexuality with trained professionals who can give guidance about birth control or abstinence.

I'm joining fellow mommybloggers Stefania Pomponi Butler of CityMama, Squid of leelo and his potty-mouthed mom, and Karianna of Kari's Couch to urge you to vote no on Prop 85. And if you believe that this proposition should be defeated and you are comfortable blogging about it, please do. Please know that Mommybloggers are a political force; we just don't always use the power that we have.

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Technorati tags: California, politics, Prop 85