CALIFORNIA: MEASURE RESTRICTING TEEN ABORTIONS DELAYED
"Backers of a proposed ballot measure to restrict abortionsThis is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
for teenagers announced [Tuesday] that they would target the June
2000 ballot for their measure instead of next November," the San
Francisco Chronicle reports. According to Brian Johnston of the
California Pro-Life Council, the measure will be refiled in
January in order "to give proponents more time to gather the
693,230 valid signatures needed to qualify for the proposed
constitutional amendment for the ballot." Johnston said "[i]t's
next to impossible" for the group to gather enough signatures to
qualify for the November 1998 ballot. Under state law,
proponents of ballot measures have 150 days to gather enough
signatures to qualify.
THE ISSUE
At issue is an August ruling by the California Supreme Court
that overturned a 1987 state law requiring "unmarried teenagers
seeking abortions to get permission from a parent, guardian or
judge." Although the law had been upheld once, it was overturned
on a 4-3 decision this year. The California Pro-Life Council has
also begun a campaign to block the confirmation of Chief Justice
Ronald George, who wrote the majority opinion in the case last
summer (Gunnison, 12/10).