Protecting abortion access for teens: Defeating parental notification in California

Health care providers joined reproductive rights and justice groups to successfully oppose Proposition 85, a parental notification of abortion initiative on the California ballot in 2006. Proposition 85, like its 2005 predecessor Proposition 73, threatened to amend the California constitution to prevent minors from seeking abortion services without their parents' knowledge. The diverse No on 85 coalition, like the No on 73 campaign before it, managed to engage public support and defeat extremely well-funded, well-organized opponents of adolescent reproductive rights. Physicians and other health care workers around the state actively campaigned against Prop 85, speaking out about the evidence that restrictions on abortion access jeopardize teens, and about the proposed law's potential negative impact on public health and women's health. The presentation will describe the strategies employed in the campaign, how health care providers engaged in the politics of health policy, and why we think it made a difference.