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Calif. Voters Defeat Abortion Notification
Calif. Voters Defeat Abortion Notification Initiative Along With Schwarzenegger's Four Ballot Initiatives
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - California voters rejected an initiative requiring parents to be notified when minors seek abortions, defeating every special election measure on Tuesday's ballot including four that were central to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's efforts to reshape state government.

The loss of all four of the governor's signature ballot proposals amounted to a stinging rebuke from voters who elected him two years ago and darkened his prospects for a second term.

Those four proposals did not include the abortion initiative, although Schwarzenegger had supported it.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Proposition 73 lost with 53 percent against to 47 percent in favor.

If the abortion amendment had passed, it would have made California the 35th state requiring either parental notification or consent for girls 17 and under requesting the procedure.

Abortion opponents in the state have tried for more than two decades to make it harder for girls to terminate pregnancies without their parents' knowledge, but this was the first year a measure qualified for the ballot.

The measure also contained a provision that would have defined abortion as an act that causes "the death of the unborn child, a child conceived but not yet born."