Pro-life groups are asking California voters to approve a measure that would prohibit abortions involving underage girls until 48 hours after a parent or other family member has been notified.

Proposition 4, entitled "Waiting Period and Parental Notification before Termination of Minor's Pregnancy," qualified for the Nov. 4 ballot. It will be the third parental notification measure put forward in California in four years.

Even though similar laws are on the books in more than 30 states, the two previous initiatives, Prop 73 in 2005 and Prop 85 in 2006, were voted down after well-funded opposition led by Planned Parenthood. Prop 73 failed with 47.2 percent of the vote; Prop 85 received 45.8 percent.

Prop 4 (which has been referred to as "Sarah's Law") is sponsored by Friends of Sarah, a committee with major funding by Sonoma County winemaker and former Republican state Assemblyman Don Sebastiani and by Jim Holman, publisher of the San Diego Reader and a major contributor to the previous parental notification measures.

The California Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state's Catholic bishops, endorses the measure. (See the California bishops' statement.)

Prop 4 differs from the previous measures by addressing criticism that notification could subject pregnant girls to parental abuse. The measure states that if such abuse is reported, another adult family member can be notified of the abortion.

Acceptable adult family members include a grandparent, stepparent, foster parent, aunt, uncle, sibling, half-sibling, or first cousin of a minor. The family member must be at least 21 years old.

Prop 4 provides for a judicial override "based on clear and convincing evidence of (the) minor's maturity or best interests." Parents also can sign a Department of Health Services form authorizing an abortion without parental notice. No notice is required if the physician concludes the abortion is necessary to save the minor's life.

Proponents say the measure is meant both to protect young people and to reduce the rate of abortions among minors.

"In every state where parental notification has passed, abortions (for minors) plummeted," said Vicki Evans, director of the Respect Life Program of the Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Evans said Prop 4 makes good medical sense as well. "It's very inappropriate to have a serious medical procedure without notifying a parent. It's a real conflict with parental rights. Also, with these laws, there is always a judicial bypass, which is generally granted."

Proponents argue that Prop 4 would protect underage girls from sexual predators. In a 1995 study among 46,000 school-aged girls in California, researchers reported most pregnancies were the result of sexual relationships with adult men between five and seven years older.

Evans said Prop 4 faces an uphill battle. The two previous initiatives failed largely because of opposition TV ads warning of the dangers of parental abuse, and the new language in Prop 4 has not convinced Planned Parenthood that parental notification is good policy.

Amy Moy, associate vice president of public affairs at Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, told Catholic San Francisco the goal of reducing teen abortions is a good one, but argued that the solution is not parental notification.

"The real answer starts with caring families, prevention through comprehensive sex education, including abstinence, and access to contraception," Moy said. "The truth is that most teens are talking to their parents. The ones that aren't are doing so for good reasons."

Moy said she believes the provision of alternate family members is an unacceptable solution.

"This new element is a disingenuous false option," Moy said. "This so-called new protection does nothing to make sure minors are safe. In order to trigger this false option, a teen would have to allege abuse, and watch as police knock on the same door she has to return to. This could lead her to not seek care at all."

Katie Short, a lawyer with the Life Legal Defense Foundation and co-author of Prop 4, countered Moy's objections.

"Child abuse investigators have ways of interviewing minors without going to the home, but at some point, yes, the parents will be brought in," Short said. "They are hurting the minor. There is no way around that."

If a teen is from an abusive home, child protective services should intervene, Short said.

"Planned Parenthood's answer is to give her a secret abortion and send her back to an abusive home," she said.

Planned Parenthood's Moy also warned that parental notification could lead to more unsafe, illegal abortions. This, however, is a "phantom fear," says a law professor who has studied abortion in other states.

"Parental involvement laws are on the books in over two-thirds of the states, some for over 20 years, and there is no evidence that these laws have led to an increase in illegal abortions," Teresa Stanton Collett wrote in the Vermont Law Review, citing testimony before a Texas House Committee as well as a federal Centers for Disease Control report. Stanton Collett is a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

Referring to Prop 4 as "Sarah's Law" is based on the 1994 death of a 15-year-old female in Texas as the result of an abortion. Initiative supports say a parental notification law could have prevented the death. It has been confirmed that "Sarah" was Jammie Garcia Yanez-Villegas. "Sarah" was used to protect her identity.

While Evans said she was initially skeptical about Prop 4's chances, she said the fact that Prop 8, the proposed state constitutional amendment to define marriage as only between a man and a woman, will draw many socially conservative voters to the polls and could give Prop 4 a boost.

Carol Hogan, director of pastoral programs and communication for the California Catholic Conference, agreed. She predicted most of the lobbying attention will go to Prop 8, but voter spillover could push Prop 4 over the top.

Prop 4 advocates have raised roughly $2.4 million, against nearly $4 million for the No-on-4 campaign. The largest contributors to the opposition campaign are Planned Parenthood affiliates in California and one in New York, which combined have raised more than $3 million.

From Catholic San Francisco.