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Jared Tracy leads dreamers. He is a marketing consultant as well as a business leader and entrepreneur. He is an accomplished copywriter, prolific blogger, and communication coach. In a past life he was a genius in Database and Web Technology development. Jared travels to various trade shows and events for the technology and consumer products industries. He is also a public speaker on topics such as marketing, product development, and leadership.

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California Proposition 4: Excellent Point & My Answer

November 6th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

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I posted a blog on WordPress the other day about the status of the various Propositions here in California. I was a strong opponent of Proposition 4, but one of the people who read my blog posted a great question:

Abortion issue aside and speaking on condition of generic medical treatment itself: if you had a sixteen year old daughter, would you be happy to find out that a doctor performed treatment on her without your consent?

EXCELLENT question!!! My answer is that I would sue the doctor who performed the treatment without my consent for malpractice.

Is this a double standard? Of course not. What I described above is the right a parent has whether Proposition 4 passed or not.

Proposition 4 was a simple measure. Require doctors to notify parents about a minor’s choice to obtain an abortion 48 hours prior to the abortion. If abuse is reported by the child, the doctor must notify authorities and the decision to allow an abortion by a minor is decided by judge.

The last part is accurate, folks. Judges would be the ones handing down the decisions about who gets to have an abortion and who doesn’t get to have an abortion. I’m all for judges deciding the law and constitutionality of laws and the interpretation of laws. What I don’t like are judges deciding who gets to do or not do certain things in our day-to-day lives. This is not what judges are for.

There Are 2 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Ray on 9 November 2008:

    There’s just no way I would want my under-aged daughter to have an abortion procedure without my consent. She wouldn’t be able to get her tooth pulled at the dentist without me knowing, but now it’s ok for her to get an abortion without telling me? That seems like taking away a great deal of a parent’s authority.

    As a nation, we have already decided that 18 is the age by which we can call someone an adult. So why would anyone under this age be able to make a life altering decision like this without the supervision of the parent? Am I missing something?

  2. Comment by withheld on 14 November 2008:

    Yes, you are missing something. This comment presupposes that all parents are responsible and capable. My eyesight started declining when I was in about the 4th grade. But I didn’t have well-organized or well-prioritized parents. I finally got sick of it in about the 8th grade, made an appointment for myself, and hitchhiked to the nearest hospital, about 12 miles away from where I lived. The doctor there tested me, pronounced me nearsighted, but told me I should have brought my parents. Duh - I would have if I could have. He asked how I was going to pay for the glasses and I told him I’d saved up $200. He kind of laughed off and sent me home empty handed, saying I should bring my parents next time. I went through a total of 8 years of school without being able to read what was written on the board. Finally, at age 17 I moved to England and was able to get glasses for the first time through their medical system. I can’t tell you what a relief that was. People should realize that denying children any kind of medical care without parental involvement sometimes means: denying them any kind of medical care.

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