Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Reporting child rape

ABC News reports:
LOS ANGELES -- For the third time in four years, California voters weighed whether doctors should be required to notify parents before performing an abortion on a minor.

In early returns, the ballot measure appeared to be splitting the vote.

Similar to laws in 35 states, Proposition 4 also requires a two-day waiting period. Voters have twice defeated very similar measures in 2005 and 2006. In 2005, 54 percent voted against it. A year later, that rose to 56 percent. ...

Opponents said Proposition 4 is a thinly disguised attempt to chip away at abortion rights.

They claimed the provision for minors who do not want their parents notified requires that the minor write a detailed statement that the health care provider must report, triggering an investigation by Child Protection Services. Many teenagers, the opponents said, would not want to disclose abuse if they knew it would lead to an investigation. ...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supported Proposition 4, while the California Teachers Association opposed it.
I am still trying to figure out why teachers would want child rape to go unreported.

California, like other states, has a Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. Teachers and physicians are required by law to report suspected child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, and child neglect. A 14-year-old girl getting an abortion would certainly be a victim of statutory rape.

Proposition 4 has now lost, so does that mean that people are really against these child abuse reporting requirements? If teachers don't want child rape to be reported, then what do they want reported?

My guess is that this proposition only lost because the radical pro-abortion lobby spent a lot of money on misleading ads against it. Abortion business like Planned Parenthood do not want to have to report child rape. Most voters did not understand the issue.

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