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Churches seen as key in parental notification effort
By JOHN FORTMEYER
CNNW publisher
SALEM — Interested churches will play a key role in the coming weeks’ campaign to get Oregon voters to approve parental notification when minors face abortions, says the campaign’s manager.
“Our coordination with churches will be a primary component of our grassroots coordination effort, because that’s where our supporters are at,” said Sarah Nashif of the Salem-based Committee to Protect Our Teen Daughters, sponsor of Measure 43. “I think churches’ participation in this issue is very important.”
If the state’s voters in November’s general election approve the measure, it will mark the first time that Oregonians will have passed a law that is described as “pro-life,” said Nashif.
In 1990, Oregon voters defeated a similar measure. In the late 1990s the state Legislature approved a parental notification law, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. John Kitzhaber.
To get this year’s measure on the fall ballot, volunteers across the state collected 115,845 signatures.
The proposed law would require that an abortion provider notify the parent or legal guardian of a 15-, 16- or 17-year-old girl 48 hours before he performs an abortion on that minor. The parent can be notified in person or by certified mail, and the parent must provide identification to prove that they are the minor’s parent or guardian. Current Oregon law requires minors 14 years old and younger to obtain parental consent for any medical procedure.
According to Nashif’s organization, close to 2,000 teens had abortions in Oregon in 2004 and studies show the majority of pregnant teens do not tell their parents when they are contemplating an abortion. Oregon parents have expressed outrage that complete strangers, and in some cases, abusers, have concealed and facilitated abortions to be performed on their daughters behind their backs.
Backers of the measure say parental notice allows parents to provide emotional, spiritual and physical care for their daughters that they would not be able to provide if they were left uninformed.
Measure 43 supporters also point out that the proposed law has a bypass mechanism that allows girls who have abusive parents, or who are pregnant as a result of incest, to participate in a confidential hearing with an adminstrative law judge. The judge can then waive the notification requirement if he believes the girl is in danger, or if the notification is not in the minor’s best interests.
The proposed law also provides an exception for medical emergencies, and calls for notification to be waived if the doctor believes there is not enough time to notify a parent due to a medical emergency.
Opponents of Measure 43 claim that it poses unrealistic expectations about every teen’s level of family communication, that it won’t reduce teen pregnancy or abortion rates and that it creates an unworkable bureaucratic process.
Currently, 35 states — but none on the West Coast — have parental involvement laws in effect. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that such laws are constitutional and that they do not pose an undue burden on the mother as long as they have a bypass option.
Measure 43 is supported by Oregon Right to Life, Oregon Family Council, the Oregon Catholic Conference, the Salem-based Christian organization Stronger Families for Oregon, the Oregon Republican Party and Democrats for Life.
Nashif said the campaign offers the following to churches:
• a brief video that can be shown at services or meetings;
• a brochure that can be distributed by hand or in church bulletins;
• guidance on what churches can do politically within the constraints of their 501c3 federal tax status.
“As a campaign we are sensitive to that,” she explained. While 501c3 churches and ministries are limited regarding the amount of time that can be devoted to the measure, they are fully free to endorse a ballot measure if they so choose, Nashif said.
For more information, contact the campaign office in Salem at 503-390-3645 or go to www.protectourteendaughters.com.
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