Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report Highlights Women's Health Policy Issues Related To 2006 Elections

The following highlights recent election-related news on women's health issues.

• California: State Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides (D) on Friday in San Francisco made his first public statements in opposition to Proposition 85, a statewide ballot measure that would require doctors to notify parents or guardians before performing an abortion on a minor, the Sacramento Bee reports (Hecht, Sacramento Bee, 7/29). The measure would require unmarried girls younger than age 18 to inform a parent or legal guardian of their intention to have an abortion 48 hours before undergoing the procedure. The initiative is similar to Proposition 73, which failed in November 2005, but it eliminates language that defines abortion as resulting in the "death of an unborn child, conceived but not yet born." In addition, Proposition 85 does not include a provision in Proposition 73 that would have mandated reporting on how many judicial waivers a judge has approved (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/23). "There is now an effort by antichoice extremists to roll back the clock to a much darker day," Angelides said, adding, "The fact is, voters of California rejected a similar measure (last year) and said it was wrong for antichoice extremists and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to jeopardize teen safety." Schwarzenegger supported Proposition 73 last year but has not publicly stated a position on Proposition 85, according to the Bee. "The governor's position on parental notification has not changed," Katie Levinson, Schwarzenegger campaign spokesperson, said, adding, "The people spoke last year" in defeating Proposition 73 (Sacramento Bee, 7/29).
  


• Michigan: Abortion-related issues in the 7th District are a key issue in the Republican primary, which is between Rep. Joe Schwarz and Tim Walberg, the Jackson Citizen Patriot reports. Schwarz, a physician and an abortion-rights supporter, has said that the "decision [to have an abortion] should not be made by a bunch of middle-aged, gray-haired men. ... It should be made by the woman herself." Walberg, who has called opposition to abortion rights a "moral absolute" and has said abortion should be illegal with no exceptions, in January was endorsed by Right to Life of Michigan, the state's largest abortion-rights opposition group. "The only exception I would give in very, very rare cases ... is for the life of the mother," Walberg said, adding, "Not the health of the mother. The health of the mother is fraught with too many vagaries and potential abuses" (Jackson Citizen Patriot, 7/30).
  


• Tennessee: Candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the U.S. Senate race in Tennessee should focus their campaigns less on abortion-related issues and more on other state issues in advance of the party's primary Thursday, Lloyd Daugherty, chair of the state's Conservative Union, said Saturday at the group's annual Reagan Day Dinner in Knoxville, the AP/Knoxville News reports. "Some folks assume that all conservatives care about is abortion and gay marriage," he said, adding that efforts to ban abortion are "vitally important, but there is so much more to conservatism." The three leading candidates for the Republican nomination are Reps. Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary and former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker. Bryant and Hilleary have said they would support a state abortion ban that allows exceptions only to save the life of the woman, and Corker has said he would support a ban that allows exceptions for rape and incest and to save the pregnant woman's life. The winner of Thursday's primary likely will face Rep. Harold Ford in November (AP/Knoxville News, 7/31).

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