OREGON – YES ON MEASURE 43

Parental Involvement and Support Act

This November, Oregon, like California, will try for the second time to pass a parental notification for abortion initiative. 

Under current Oregon law, parental consent is required for any medical procedure performed on a minor 14 years old or younger.  When a minor of 15 years or more has an abortion in Oregon, though, a parent is not even notified, much less required to give consent.

If approved by the voters, Measure 43 would extend parental rights.  It would mandate that written or in person notice be provided to one parent of an unemancipated minor 15 years of age or older at least 48 hours prior to performing an abortion on that teenager.  Like other parental notification legislation, Measure 43 would waive the notice requirement in cases of medical emergency or when the minor obtains a judicial waiver.

In 1990, Oregon voters narrowly rejected a parental notification initiative by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin.  Since that time, opinion has apparently changed significantly in the state.  In a January 2005 Moore Information Poll, Oregonians approved of parental notification prior to a minor’s abortion by a 74 percent to 21 percent margin.  It remains to be seen whether this poll support will translate into an election victory, however.

In 2004, 1,957 teenagers had abortions in Oregon; 55 percent of those teens told neither parent beforehand.  In approximately 29 percent of those teen abortion cases, the father of the child was at least 20 years old, meaning that over 560 of those instances involved statutory rape.

Clearly, many Oregon parents believe that their rights are being violated.

Measure 43 is the product of 20,000 people who circulated petitions and obtained over 115,000 signatures, much more than the 75,630 signatures needed to place the initiative on the ballot.

Parental notification will not stop abortion, but it will reduce the number of abortions performed and it will restore one of the parental rights that the abortion industry has stolen from American families.  For more information on the campaign for Measure 43, please visit www.protectourteendaughters.com.