[NOW Actions] Defeat Measure 43!

Support NOW's Work |	November 1, 2006	| Tell a Friend

All NOW Actions		Please read this message from our friends at the No on 43 Campaign. Women in Oregon Need Your Support to Defeat Measure 43! We can defeat Measure 43 - an initiative on the ballot this Tuesday that would require a doctor to first give written notice, by certified mail, to a parent of a minor seeking an abortion, at least 48 hours prior to providing the abortion -- we just need to secure 700,000 "No" votes . We want to make sure we can reach every Oregon voter in these final days. Endorsed by the Oregon National Organization for Women, we invite you to visit the No on 43 website to make a donation to help us stay on the air, in the mail, and on the phones. Background We all want to encourage parental involvement and strong, healthy family communication. But teaching about responsibility and values has to happen before a young woman gets pregnant, not by government-mandated parental notification in a flawed measure like 43. The mandate in Measure 43 to force a doctor to send a certified letter to a parent raises the risks. In fact it puts at-risk teens at greater risk of provoking a violent response and escalating conflict. What if the parent is abusive, or is responsible for the pregnancy? Even in stable families, the threat of a certified letter could frighten teens away from the very support they need, at the time they need it most. Measure 43 has no exceptions for rape or incest, and this government mandate takes a delicate situation out of the hands of women and doctors and into the hands of understaffed and overwhelmed agencies. Measure 43 is more complicated than it seems at first. Oregon does not need a new law telling our doctors how to practice medicine. Oregon does not need a government mandate involved in the most private parenting and family decisions. And Oregon does not need a new layer of government-mandated parental notification.
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