California GOP Hires Campaign Strategist To Build Support for Parental Notification Measure
The California Republican Party has hired Gary Marx, a campaign strategist who worked on President Bush's re-election campaign, to help increase support among Christian voters for Proposition 73, the Los Angeles Times reports (Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 10/13).
Proposition 73, which will appear on the Nov. 8 special election ballot, would amend the state constitution to require health care providers to inform a parent or guardian 48 hours before performing an abortion on an unmarried minor (California Healthline, 10/11).
According to the Times, state Republican leaders hope Marx can help court social conservatives who oppose abortion rights to vote in favor of Proposition 73. Marx will assemble a group of as many as 10 organizers who will work to build support for the ballot measure among evangelical Christians and other religious conservatives, the Times reports.
In addition, some Republican officials hope to build support among Proposition 73 supporters for other ballot measures endorsed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) (Los Angeles Times, 10/13).
The Orange County Register on Wednesday published information on Proposition 73 as part of its guide to the Nov. 8 election.
Margaret Crosby, an attorney who worked to overturn a previous notification law in the state, said language in the amendment that would define abortion as a procedure causing the "the death of the unborn child, a child conceived but not yet born," could set a precedent for legal challenges of the use of embryos in stem cell research and in vitro fertilization.
Katie Short, an attorney who helped draft the amendment, said embryonic stem cell research is protected under Proposition 71.
The Register also includes comments from Chapman University law professors Celestine Richards McConville and John Eastman on the constitutionality of the proposition (Wisckol, Orange County Register, 10/12).
Proposition 73 is "less interested in protecting our daughters and more interested in blocking women's access to abortion services," a Bakersfield Californian editorial states.
"Parents must be involved in the decisions their children make," the editorial states, adding, "But this involvement should not come in the form of a certified letter" (Bakersfield Californian, 10/12).
Additional information on Proposition 73 is available online.