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'SARAH'S LAW' Initiative

Currently gathering signatures to appear on the November 2008 ballot is a California constitutional amendment that would require a doctor to notify a parent, or in the case of parental abuse, another adult family member of an unemancipated minor 48 hours before performing an abortion on her.  It also requires a doctor to obtain the personal consent of a minor before performing the abortion and allows court intervention if a minor is being coerced to have an abortion.

The initiative, called 'Sarah's Law,' is seeking a constitutional amendment because currently our state constitution contains a 'right of privacy.'  This right has  been interpreted by the state courts to create a right to abortion, including a right of minors to obtain an abortion without parental consent. 

California's  parental consent law, Health & Safety Code Section 12345 (passed by the California Legislature and signed by the governor in 1987) was upheld by the California Supreme Court in 1996, but that decision was reversed in 1997, thus blocking the implementation of California's parental consent law.  The 'Sarah's Law' initiative is a constitutional amendment and as such, would not be subject to blockage by the state courts.