California bishops urge Catholics to support parental notification

Los Angeles, Calif., Aug 31, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The California bishops are urging Catholics in the state to vote in favor of a proposed law that would require health professionals to notify parents of a minor 48 hours before she obtains an abortion.

Proposition 73 will appear on the November 2005 ballot. It states: “The People of California have a special and compelling interest in and responsibility for protecting the health and well-being of children, ensuring that parents are properly informed of potential health-related risks to their children, and promoting parent-child communication and parental responsibility.”

“We hold that both the young woman’s welfare and society’s common good are best served when family communication is promoted in public policy,” said the bishops, lending their support to the bill. A minor faced with such a serious situation needs her parents, their love, wisdom, counsel,” they said.

“In addition, society’s common good is enhanced when family integrity is honored and parental responsibility is respected,” the bishops added, citing the importance and prime function of the family in raising children as expressed in the Catechism.

The bishops said Catholics must work with public authorities “to ensure that the family’s prerogatives are not usurped.”