Free Republic

A 12-year-old girl is prohibited from bringing aspirin to California public schools without a note from her mother or father – but in many California districts she may sign herself out of classes, leave her junior-high campus without parental permission, secretly have an abortion and return to school before the end of the day – and her own family may be none the wiser. Parents and educators across the state have been in heated debate over school policies allowing children to be excused during class time without parental notification for "confidential medical services" such as abortions, birth control, and drug...

Planned Parenthood Used Underage Girls in 10 Clinical Trials Pushing Abortion Washington, DC (LifeNews.com)-- A new report from a Planned Parenthood watchdog group finds the abortion business used underage girls in at least 10 clinical trials over the last two decades to push abortion, birth control, and STD testing. The news comes at a time when Planned Parenthood is facing criticism for videos showing it ignoring potential statutory abuse cases. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5548.html

Earlier this week, the Thomas More Society, a pro-life advocacy group filed a lawsuit with the Illinois Supreme Court to force state officials to begin enforcement of a 14 year old Parental Notification Law. In July, the Seventh District Court of Appeals dissolved a permanent injunction paving the way for the enforcement of the parental notification law only to have the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation grant a 90 day moratorium to allow abortion practitioners to "understand their obligation" under the law. In 1995, the Illinois legislature enacted the law requiring that the parents or guardian of minor...

Hillary Clinton May Have Misled Congress on Botched Abortion Claims Washington, DC -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have misled Congress during a hearing by claiming that she once visited a hospital in Brazil allegedly filled with women who were supposedly dealing with injuries from botched legal abortions. Clinton made the claim in an effort to bolster her pro-abortion position. Full story at: http://www.LifeNews.com/int1189.html

Gov. Sarah Palin is backing a ballot measure to bypass the Legislature and make it illegal for teenagers to get an abortion without telling their parents.

The girl’s voice in the videotape is tiny and tentative. She is talking to a nursing aide in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bloomington, Ind. The girl wants an abortion. The aide explains that the girl will need a parent’s consent because she is only 13. The girl balks; she does not want to name the father. “Cause, I mean, he would be in really big trouble,” says the girl. Her boyfriend, she explains, is 31. The aide drops her head into her hands. “In the state of Indiana,” says the aide, “when anyone has had intercourse and they are...

Bloomington, IN -- The Planned Parenthood staff member in Indiana who appears in a recent undercover video covering up an alleged case of statutory rape has been fired. The video sent shockwaves throughout the nation as "Diana" didn't want more information on the abuse and told a girl how to get a secret abortion.

Voters in three states did the right thing last week by defeating dangerous anti-abortion measures on their ballots. In Colorado, an overwhelming vote of 73 percent to 27 percent rejected a wild initiative that would have amended the state’s Constitution to bestow on fertilized eggs, prior to implantation in the womb, the same legal rights and protections that apply to people once they are born. In addition to ending abortion rights, this doozy threatened to ban widely used forms of contraception, curtail medical research involving embryos, shutter fertility clinics, and criminalize necessary medical care. In South Dakota, 55 percent of...

Self-described Catholics, Christians, married couples and parents approved of Proposition 4 – the family notification before a minor’s abortion initiative – by wide margins on Nov. 4, but their support was not enough to pass the measure. The Secretary of State reports that Proposition 4 failed by a margin of 52.1% no to 47.9% yes. Details on the breakdown of how Californians voted were published yesterday in an Election Day exit poll commissioned by the Sacramento Bee and conducted by the polling firm Edison/Mitofsky, which interviewed 2098 voters. According to the Sacramento Bee exit poll, 60% of voters who identified...

For the third time in four years, California voters weighed whether doctors should be required to notify parents before performing an abortion on a minor. The ballot measure was running behind in early returns. With 28 percent of the vote counted, the measure was trailing 51.8 percent to 48.2 percent. Similar to laws in 35 states, Proposition 4 also requires a two-day waiting period. Voters have twice defeated very similar measures in 2005 and 2006. In 2005, 54 percent voted against it. A year later, that rose to 56 percent. But with a presidential election bringing out many more voters...

The Poll is under "Your Voice" Prop 4 would prohibit abortion for an unemancipated minor until 48 hours after a physician notifies a parent or legal guardian. Do you support or oppose?

Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- The latest survey of California voters finds a very narrow lead for Proposition 4, the measure that would require parental notification before a minor girl can have an abortion. The results of a Field Poll, released Friday, show a narrow 45-43 percentage point lead with 12 percent undecided.The good news for backers of the measure is that the notification initiative leads among people who have already voted -- giving them a last-minute chance to persuade the rest.The survey finds the larger lead the parental rights measure enjoyed in earlier surveys has diminished as Election Day...

Prop. 4, 8 campaigns battle fiercely for crucial Latino vote José Eduardo Verástegui, a Mexican soap opera star and fashion model whom People en Español magazine named one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world, is taking to the airwaves to persuade California voters on two emotionally charged social issues. Verástegui is the face - and voice - of Spanish-language commercials calling for "yes" votes in favor of a parental notification law for abortion and a ban on same-sex marriage. His presence in the campaigns for Propositions 4 and 8 underscores the fight for a critical constituency that...

Four years after their 12-year-old daughter was impregnated by a 24-year-old man who took her for a secret abortion to cover up his crime, a San Bernardino County couple found out what happened and reported it to police. Without the parents’ involvement, the abuser would never have been brought to justice. Sgt. Tom Yarrington, the police officer who investigated the case, says if California had a law requiring abortion providers to inform families when underage girls seek their services, the girl in this case would have been spared further abuse. “The biggest difference is that the abuse would have ceased...

Watch our latest TV ad to learn the truth about teaching gay marriage in public schools if Proposition 8 fails http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l61Pd5_jHQw

The Sierra Club, one of the country's foremost environmental clubs, declined to take a position on Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban, but urged Californians to vote no on Proposition 4, the parental notification measure. Some gays were surprised at the club's omission of the most controversial initiative on the November ballot. The club took positions on several other state ballot measures that concerned environmental issues. Bill Magavern, the California director of the club, told the Bay Area Reporter Monday that Prop 8 "never came up" during meetings of the group's two volunteer committees that determine endorsements. "The last time...

Contact: Patrick Korten, 203-752-4474; Andrew Walther 818-522-2005; both with Knights of Columbus NEW HAVEN, Conn., October 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- A newly released survey of California voters shows support for Proposition 4 - a proposed law that requires a waiting period and parental notification before a girl under 18 is allowed to have an abortion. The initiative holds a 19 percentage point lead among likely voters, 52% to 33%. The survey was conducted for the Knights of Columbus by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion between September 28 and October 5, 2008. The survey shows that Proposition 4 has...

What is Sarah’s Law, the Child and Teen Safety and Stop Predators Act? Sarah’s Law is a constitutional amendment initiative currently gathering signatures to appear on the November 2008 ballot. Sarah’s Law requires a doctor to notify a parent, or, in case of parental abuse, another adult family member of an unemancipated minor 48 hours before performing an abortion on her. It also requires a doctor to obtain the personal consent of a minor before performing the abortion and allows for court intervention if a minor is being coerced to have an abortion. [top] Where did Sarah’s Law come from?...

ARLINGTON, VA, October 6, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Students for Life of America (SFLA) has released a video exposing two Planned Parenthood clinics in Winston-Salem and Charlotte, North Carolina covering up statutory rape of young girls. To view the video, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkakpcWSyWY In June of 2008, two college women volunteering for Students for Life of America entered two clinics in North Carolina posing as underage girls, 15 and 14, who just had unprotected sex with their mother's live-in boyfriend who was in his 30s. Each girl told the clinic workers that he suggested she come get the morning the Morning...

You can say one thing about the Yes on 4 TV ad: It's sure to spark some strong reactions. The campaign to pass an abortion parental notification law aired an ad last night with a young man bragging about impregnating underage girls and then taking them to get secret abortions. The ad features a scruffy looking 20-something, wearing a white t-shirt and fleece jacket, talking straight into the camera about how, "I go out with some teenage girls." "OK, so I get a couple of them pregnant. What is the big deal? I can just take her to get an...

Indeed, pro-lifers should insist that these candidates support pro-life parental-involvement laws. Such laws enjoy broad support and unlike other laws limiting abortion, they can be easily justified as a parental-rights issue. Furthermore, my recent study for the Family Research Council provides evidence that well designed parental-involvement laws have been surprisingly effective at reducing abortion rates among minors.

Ban on Gay Marriage Trails -- Voters Split on Teen Abortion Constraints, Redistricting SAN FRANCISCO, California, August 27, 2008 — A majority of California’s likely voters oppose Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that would eliminate gay marriage, according to a statewide survey released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) with funding from The James Irvine Foundation. Likely voters are divided on two other closely watched measures – one that would require a parent to be notified before a teenager has an abortion and one that would take the power to draw legislative district lines away from...

Sacramento, Aug 11, 2008 / 11:04 pm (CNA).- A California judge has ruled against Planned Parenthood and its allies who challenged the content of a voter information pamphlet’s arguments in support of Proposition 4, a ballot measure requiring abortionists to notify at least one adult relative before performing an abortion on a minor. The arguments reference the story of “Sarah,” a 15-year-old who died in 1994 after suffering complications from a secretly obtained legal abortion, in addition to stories of other underage girls who obtained abortions without their parents’ knowledge.Opponents of the pamphlet’s content argued that Sarah’s story should...

Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Abortion advocates in California are going after a state ballot proposition that would allow parental notification on abortions. They are saying the measure's ballot summary should be changed because the teen the law is named after was married at the time of the abortion that killed her.Named for a 15-year-old girl who died just four days after a legal abortion left her with a torn cervix and fatal infection, Sarah's Law, if approved, will protect the health and safety of young girls.The California Secretary of State qualified Sarah's Law for the November ballot after backers submitted...

Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) -- Several states have dealt with the problem of judges routinely approving requests for a judicial bypass so teens can get abortions without their parents' knowledge or consent. Now, an Ohio judge has admitted she's never denied a single request from a teen to get around the parental involvement law.The National Right to Life Committee indicates 37 states have parental consent or notification laws and 29 are currently in effect, including Ohio. Most have a Supreme Court-mandated judicial bypass for the rare instances where girls may be victimized by their parents.Hundreds of hearings take place before...

The Roman Catholic bishop of Richmond was told that a diocesan charity planned to help a teenage foster child get an abortion in January and did not try to prevent the procedure. Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo "was told erroneously that everything was in place and there was nothing he could do to stop it," said Steve Neill, Bishop DiLorenzo's communications officer. "He is very apologetic about the whole episode. "It is very awkward, it is very embarrassing. A human life was taken. He certainly has not taken it lightly in any way. He is clearly opposed to abortion." Mr. Neill...

Propositions that are on the November 4, 2008 General Election Ballot* Bond MeasureProposition 1 SB 1856 (Chapter 697, 2002). Costa. Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century.** **Note: The Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century was originally scheduled to appear on the November 2, 2004, General Election ballot. Subsequently, Senate Bill 1169, Chapter 71, Statutes of 2004, provided that it appear on the November 7, 2006, General Election ballot. However, most recently, Assembly Bill 713, Chapter 44, Statutes of 2006, provides for the submission of this Act on the November...

Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- As it has done in past years, Planned Parenthood abortion businesses in California are willing to shell out some of their abortion profits to make sure they can leave parents in the dark about teen abortions. They are, once again, spending heavily to defeat a parental notification measure.Earlier this month, the California Secretary of State validated Sarah's Law, the latest version of the parental notification initiative, for the November 4 ballot.Proponents submitted more than 1.2 million signatures on petitions seeking a third vote on adult involvement in minors' abortions, after Propositions 73 and 85 were...

On November's ballot in CA we will have two very important propositions. The Marriage Amendment and Sarah's Law which is a parental notification law. Please, please, please view this 60 second video and pass it on to everyone you know. Please go to www.FriendsOfSarah.com for more information. Also see National Organization for Marriage California

Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond, Va., on April 29 wrote a confidential letter to his brother bishops. He recounted how Catholic Charities of Richmond (CCR) was complicit in authorizing, procuring, and paying for an abortion on January 18, 2008. The victims were the mother, a minor immigrant, and her unborn child, who were both under the “protection” of Catholic Charities because the mother was in the country illegally. The bishop’s letter explains that the Committee on Migration (MRS) of the USCCB supplies “foster care support services to undocumented minors in U. S. custody” through an arrangement with two federal...

In January 2008, a minor in foster care in Richmond, procured an abortion while receiving support services from Commonwealth Catholic Charities (CCC). An investigation of this unfortunate event revealed that some members of CCC staff assisted the minor in preparations leading up to the abortion, and that one member of staff signed the consent form necessary for the minor to have the abortion. The minor was taken to and from the abortion facility by a person associated with CCC. Neither agency nor diocesan funds were used to pay for the procedure. A subsequent investigation also revealed that about two months...

Federal authorities are investigating the actions of a Catholic charity in Richmond which helped a 16-year-old Guatemalan girl to receive an abortion in January, in possible violation of Virginia law. Officials have called the matter to the attention of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) headquarters in Washington, urging it to prevent any repetition of the incident. Four employees of Commonwealth Catholic Charities, Richmond, (CCR) have been fired and one supervisor with the bishops' Migration and Refugee Services agency has been suspended, according to federal sources and a secret April 29 letter written by three bishops to 350 bishops nationwide....

Cindi Cook had it all planned out. Her teenage son would graduate from his Hall County high school, go to college, then settle down and start a family. Then came the pregnancy. It was spring 2007 and, according to court testimony, Cook had no interest in her 16-year-old son's girlfriend, also 16, having their baby. Cook "began to pressure until the young lady relented and agreed to have an abortion," DeKalb County solicitor general Robert James said Wednesday. Displeased that the baby would ruin her son's chances of going to college, Cook "searched for a clinic that did not require...

Changes since the last update: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1310. (07-0081) Nonviolent Offenders. Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation. Statute. Qualified for the November 4, 2008 General Election 1326. (07-0094, Amdt. #1S) Criminal Penalties and Laws. Public Safety Funding. Statute. Qualified for the November 4, 2008 General Election 1304. (07-0066, Amdt. #1S) Renewable Energy. Statute. Qualified for the November 4, 2008 General Election 1298. (07-0068) Limit on Marriage. Constitutional Amendment. Qualified for the November 4, 2008 General Election Propositions that are on the November 4, 2008 General Election Ballot Bond MeasureSB 1856 (Chapter 697, 2002). Costa. Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the...

Chicago, IL. -- A federal judge refused to allow enforcement of an ill-fated state law requiring teenage girls to notify their parents before getting abortions, potentially ending any chance the decades-old measure will ever take effect. Abortion rights groups on Saturday hailed the ruling on the legislation that was passed in 1984 and updated in 1995 but has never been enforced because of complex legal wrangling. "We're very pleased," said Lorie Chaiten of the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "This should be the end of that law." Anti-abortion forces decried the judge's ruling on the law, which...

Make no mistake about it - when the nation's largest pro-life group endorsed Fred Thompson on Tuesday its goal was to shake up the Republican contest for the presidency. The National Right to Life's endorsement is the gold standard coveted by those Republicans seeking the White House because it bestows a legitimacy and authenticity on the candidate who receives it as the standard-bearer for those who want to end abortion on demand. The Thompson endorsement not only signals how the organization representing 3,000 pro-life groups has grown up, but it shows just how close the country is to seeing Roe...

Your Views November 8, 2007 Questions recreation’s notification policy If you live in Alexandria, have a child in the city’s after school programs run by the department of recreation, and assume you will be called in the event of an emergency — don’t hold your breath. According to Leslie Clark, a Department Division Chief, the department’s policy regarding parental notification is to guarantee that at least one person on a child’s emergency contact form will be called. In most cases, one would assume such a policy is reasonable. But, in cases where child custody is an issue, it becomes an...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorOctober 2, 2007Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Rudy Giuliani has tried every trick in the book in order to persuade pro-life voters to consider him for the Republican nomination for president. Now a congressman with a long record of opposing abortion has labeled the former mayor pro-life and said he would have voted mostly pro-life if he had been a congressman as well.Rep. Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, says that if Giuliani were a member of Congress today, he'd be considered pro-life."In a hypothetical comparison of congressional votes, Mayor Giuliani's voting record would mirror the voting record of...

HYANNIS, Massachusetts, October 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Massachusetts woman is demanding the authorities take action against an abortionist, who destroyed her daughter's unborn child while she died of cardiac arrest on his operating table. Operation Rescue reports that Eileen Smith has initiated legal action against abortionist Rabin Osathanondh in order to prevent her daughter's cruel death from being merely "swept under the rug" as frequently occurs after abortion tragedies. Smith's 22-year old daughter, Laura Hope Smith, walked into Osathanondh's Women Health Clinic in Hyannis on September 13, 2007, as a healthy young woman engaged to be married before she...

At a time when Manchester state Rep. John W. Thompson is seeking middle ground on the emotionally charged issue of whether an underage girl should have to tell a parent before getting an abortion, the case of a runaway found in West Hartford has added volatility to the debate. During a June 6 search of the West Hartford home of dog trainer Adam P. Gault, 41, police discovered the runaway, Danielle Cramer, 15, in a hidden storage space under a set of stairs. Cramer had been missing from her mother's Bloomfield home for almost a year The case has drawn...

CONCORD, N.H. — Gov. John Lynch signed legislation Friday that made New Hampshire the first state to repeal a law requiring a parent be notified before a minor received an abortion. The 2003 law never took effect because of a court challenge, and the repeal took effect immediately.

CONCORD, New Hampshire, June 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The New Hampshire State Senate passed a bill on Thursday repealing a law requiring abortionists to give parents advance notice before aborting the babies of their teenage daughters.The bill passed the Senate with a 15-9 vote, and was passed by the State House in March with a 217-141 vote. Governor John Lynch has indicated he plans to sign the legislation. The now doomed parental notification law placed strict requirements on abortionists when it was passed in 2003, proscribing them from performing abortions on “unemancipated minors” until 48 hours after their parents/guardians had...

LONDON, May 30, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A bill that would have recognized the right of parents to be informed when their daughter was getting an abortion has failed by a wide margin in the British House of Commons. Tory MP Angela Watkinson had proposed the bill, arguing that sex education only encourages children to have sexual relations and leaves them vulnerable. MPs voted by 159 to 87 against Watkinson’s bill.In the name of ‘confidentiality,’ Department of Health rules keep parents in the dark about potentially dangerous abortions and contraceptives being made available to schoolgirls. In the House, Watkinson argued that...

Concord, NH (LifeNews.com) -- The New Hampshire Senate appears likely to follow state House in voting to overturn the state's parental notification law. Pro-abortion lawmakers have been wanting to scrap the provision, allowing parents to know when their teenager daughters are considering an abortion, even though the Supreme Court essentially upheld it. The notification statue has never been enforced and went all the way to the Supreme Court, which upheld it in part, but abortion advocates are moving a measure that would take it off the books. Earlier decisions found the law unconstitutional but the high court ruled that parts...

Los Angeles, CA (LifeNews.com) -- More details are emerging in a case where a counselor at the UCLA student health center advised a pregnant student to have an abortion. The woman in the case, a pro-life student posing as a pregnant teenager, says Planned Parenthood attempted to advise her to disguise statutory rape. In an undercover investigative story for a student-run newspaper, UCLA student Lila Rose posed as a pregnant 15 year-old and entered a Santa Monica Planned Parenthood. She told officials there that a 23 year old man had impregnated her and her article in The Advocate newspaper says...

After 4 weeks in coma, woman sues abortion clinic NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A Newark woman who said she spent a month in a coma after undergoing an abortion at a Bergen County clinic sued the facility and several doctors there on Thursday. The lawsuit was filed in Superior Court in Essex County against Metropolitan Medical Associates, an Englewood clinic that performs thousands of abortions a year. The clinic was ordered closed on Tuesday by state health officials until it corrects the "immediate and serious" risks. Rasheedah Dinkins, who is still recovering in a hospital, said she regrets having ended...

Hi FRiends. One proposition that is very important to me is Proposition 85, a parental notification referendum. It would be the first strike at abortion in California. Here are the returns so far. We're pulling closer.

Welcome to the live thread for the California Primary Election. Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you are a registered voter, it is your duty to vote and defend your rights and civil liberties, protect your pocketbook, and vote the bums out where applicable. Feel free to discuss issues key to your local area that others may be interested in. Post your polling place experiences if you like. And post numbers as they come in later tonight.

From Grassfire.org Alliance Going into the midterm elections on Tuesday, Grassfire has learned that Proposition 85, which would require parental notification of teen abortions is currently leading by a margin of 46 percent to 43 percent with 11 percent undecided. This is statistically about the same as the poll numbers in July. ++ Get out the Vote for Prop. 85 Grassfire is urging ALL California team members to vote in favor of Proposition 85 this Tuesday. ++ Action Item--Alert Your California Friends Passage of Prop. 85 would be a key victory for parental rights. That is why we are urging...

LifeNews.com Note: Noelle Patno is Executive Advisor of Stanford Students for Life, the pro-life campus group at Stanford University.Any girl in California under the age of 18 can legally obtain a taxpayer-funded abortion — or be coerced into one — without the knowledge of those responsible for her. Such a legal environment fosters the willful ignorance of possible abuse and grants sexual predators and profiteering strangers the power to preempt parental rights, to pocket the funds of those who do not support abortions, and to endanger minors. Minors are called “minors” because society does not yet consider them mature enough...