Proposition 4

[tsugomaru]

For those of you who don't live in California, Proposition 4 is a law that will be voted for or against on election day. It states that minors (those who are under 18) can no longer get abortions without parent notification. If you were to get pregnant, at say, the age of 14, you can go to the clinic and they will give you options. You can have the child and put it up for adoption, have it and keep it for yourself, or you can abort the child for whatever reason. One of the arguments for the law is because parents do want to know if their child is getting an abortion and that sounds reasonable. Most parents want to help out their child and see them through this tough decisions.

The argument against the law states that those who are seeking for a private abortion will no longer have a place to go. If you've already decided on getting an abortion without telling your parents, then you're going to go through with it by whatever means. If the law passes, those who want to keep their abortion secret will no longer have a safe place to go and the abortion can be risky business. After all, if you don't have a good enough relationship with your parents to even share with them that you're pregnant, then chances are, you won't do so because it's the law. After all, Prohibition didn't stop anyone from drinking just because it was against the law. People still drank, except there were no longer regulations on the liquor so some of it was unsafe.

Currently, the polls say that Proposition 4 is in favor by 8%, meaning it has a very high chance of being passed. But one of the problems I see with this law is that a big group of voters are missing from this, teenage girls under the age of 18. This law will obviously affects them and they don't get a say because they can't vote.

I guess I have to tie a question for discussion to really make this a CT thread. What should the US government do about laws imposed on a group of people who can't vote for or against it?

Do not turn this thread into one about abortion.

~Tsugomaru