As a health care provider, and especially as a pediatrician, it’s pretty clear that parental notification for abortion is a bad idea. It’s not entirely clear what this would accomplish, other than cutting off access of teen-aged girls to not only D&C’s, but prenatal counselling and care in general.

From my standpoint, it’s simply one of practicality. If a girl comes to be evaluated because she thinks she’s pregnant, we can preserve the doctor-patient relationship of confidentiality and refer her to the appropriate services, and perhaps even hook her up with Medi-Cal or CCS and she benefits whether or not she eventually decides to have an abortion. If she goes to Tijuana or gets a coathanger abortion, none of this happens. What’s worse is the situation of rape or sexual abuse. If she doesn’t come to us, then it’ll be that much harder to hook her up with Child Protective Services. The docs in Tijuana, and the unlicensed abortionists aren’t obliged to report such a case.

See the American Academy of Pediatrics statement on the harm of legislating parental notification. So, vote no on Proposition 85.