Notes from the Blue Bear Republic

Coming to a Phone Near You: Son of Prop 73

I got an interesting phone call yesterday.

The automated fellow on the other end of the line wanted me to help him put another "parental notification" measure on the ballot, to require that parents be informed, or require permission, when their daughters seek to end a pregnancy.

You have to have it to the morals police. They're persistent, even after a stunning defeat of Proposition 73 at last year's special election. If you don't succeed, try, try, again, the distinctly American motto tells us. I'm sure that Prop 73's backers conducted a post-election review and told themselves that it was just a matter of a lot of voters voting down everything as a response to the election; or that the measure's sneaky attempt to throw in anti-Roe language doomed it; and/or that those silly weirdos in the coastal counties came out in force and turned it away. So why not try again?

It certainly seems like a great cause for the morals police to take on. What parent wouldn't want to be a part of the discussion around their minor daughter's pregnancy? I would. I have a son, and when gets to reproductive age (it still takes two to tango) I'll tell him that if he finds himself a potential father-to-be, I want to talk to him about it. But I don't want to do it at gunpoint. If my son or daughter felt they needed to take the discussion away from me, the fault is mine for failing to build the right level of trust.

Some things just can't be legislated. Trust and love are two of them.

So I certainly plan on fighting this measure if it gets to the ballot again. But I was most intrigued by the shotgun approach to organizing for it this time. The caller asked me to help gather petitions and, of course, to donate money. He called upon "registered voters" to help. I'm a Democrat who voted in every election. Most campaign organizers would presume that I vote a liberal ticket. So why contact me? How did I get on the list? And who's paying for all this?

Voter lists aren't expensive but they aren't cheap either, especially if you're (presumably) covering an entire city or county. Prop. 73 lost by a relatively close margin statewide, 47.2 for to 52.8 against. It lost by just a few percentage points here in Sacramento County, so many the organizers thought it was ripe for recruitment. It's also home to a lot of public workers, many of whom take an active interest in organized politics outside of work. It's good soil to plant a new campaign, or a new old campaign. But it still seems an oddly unfocused approach.

There are certainly plenty of anti-choice organizations out there willing and able to take this on. Why fall back on random calling? I wonder if the "mainline" groups have thrown in the towel on trying getting the Blue Bear Republic to change its "immoral and irresponsible" approach on this issue. They may have seen the response to their sneaky attempt to stick an anti-choice poison pill in the California Constitution through Prop. 73, which turned the election into a general referendum on choice as much as parental notification, for what it was, California's pro-choice majority making itself heard and felt. Maybe it's scared most of them off for now.

Progressives should thank them for the opportunity they provided to make this statement. With Roe v. Wade unsure now, state legislators have to step back up and take a stand again. With Prop. 73's defeat, it makes it a lot easier for potential fence sitters to stand on their own two feet on the issue.

For now, that ringing phone could offer you a chance to give the anti-choice forces hope for a Redder California. All you have to do to dishearten them is hang up. It might be the easiest progressive action you can take today.

posted by Terry Preston @ 9:49 AM