'Stop predators' act: Assembly committee rejects parent notice

California Assembly measure ACA5 that would have required a physician to notify parents or guardian of a minor girl prior to carrying out an abortion failed to pass the Assembly Health Committee on Jan. 14.

Tehachapi’s representative Shannon Grove, R-District 34, introduced ACA5 (Assembly Constitutional Amendment), which received five “aye” votes, 12 “no” votes and two “no votes recorded.”

The vote was along party lines. The Republicans supported the measure and the Democrats rejected it.

ACA5 was titled “The Parental Notification, Child and Teen Safety and Stop Predators Act.”

Approval by the legislature would have placed the measure on the November 2014 statewide ballot.

The measure did not require parental consent as did a previous Assembly measure, and included exemptions from notification of a parent in cases of a medical emergency, by a judicial waiver or with evidence of parental abuse.

“It defies common sense that state law requires a minor to have parental permission to get a tattoo, visit a tanning salon, travel for field trips or sporting events, purchase violent video games, even just receive an aspirin in school, but abortions can be secretly performed on an underage girl without her parents’ or guardians’ knowledge,” Grove said when she presented the bill. “We’re all in agreement that minors don’t have the emotional or physical maturity to make many important decisions on their own. If parents have knowledge of their daughter’s abortion, they can help with any serious emotional or physical complications that may result, or protect their daughters from future sexual exploitation and pregnancies.”

The measure, she said, would serve to protect minors from the risks of secret abortions and prevent sexual predators from using abortions to conceal their exploitation of minor girls.

“Every day, young girls are taken for abortions by older men who want to keep it secret from parents and law enforcement. Young girls are trafficked from the streets of major California cities, even Bakersfield. As public servants, we have a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable among us from those who would do them harm.”

According to legislative researcher Rob Smith, more than 35 states currently have some version of a parental notification requirement.

Co-authors of the measure were senators Anderson, Asms, Dahle, Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Hagman, Jones, Knight, Melendez, Nielsen and Wagner.

Grove spokesperson Kristina Brown said that the measure’s Health Committee appearance was the first time it had been heard in committee.

“She’s been working on it for a year,” Brown said. “It won’t be heard again.”

In other Assembly business, Grove gave Governor Jerry Brown a pat on the back for his 2014-2015 budget.

“Taxpayers should be pleased to see that the governor has finally recognized the importance of starting to pay down the state’s debts,” Grove said. “My Republican colleagues and I have been calling for this type of fiscal responsibility for years. But it’s not enough to just chip away at the stack of bills the government still has to pay; we have to tackle the root of the spending problem.”