VIDEO: CBS on SD Abortion Ban as Polls in CA, CO and SD Trend Toward Preserving Women’s Rights

Polls show trends toward respecting individual rights of teens and women, but measures in California and South Dakota are statistically tied and will depend on who turns out. Colorado's "Egg as person" initiative is headed for overwhelming defeat.

A new Field Poll in California shows support is slipping for Amendment 4, requiring parental notification for teens to get abortions. Similarly, polling done in South Dakota shows voters trending toward rejecting that state’s proposed abortion ban, Initiated Measure 11. Both polls indicate the races are statistically tied but the trend lines are moving toward sustaining individual rights for teens and women to be able to make their own private health care decisions. Turnout will determine both races. Polling in Colorado shows Amendment 48, the "Egg as Person" ballot inititave failing miserably.

See all of Rewire’s coverage of these important sexual and reproductive health ballot initiatives.

The San Jose Mercury News discusses the Field Poll in California:

The standing of
Proposition 4, meanwhile, which would require doctors to alert a girl’s
parents at least 48 hours before performing an abortion, also has
decreased in recent weeks.

An estimated 49 percent of voters in
September were inclined to vote yes, but the new poll, taken after the
no campaign launched massive advertising, shows support down to 45
percent.

According to HealthVote.org,
parental notification opponents as of last week had spent more than
$300,000 on TV advertising, while supporters had taken out only $7,000
in TV ads.

"It sounds like some of the exact wording of
Proposition 4 must be getting out to the general public," said Suzanne
Mendez, a pediatrician at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center who belongs
to a coalition of doctors who oppose the initiative because they fear
some girls would seek illegal abortions.

The yes campaign
stresses that the initiative allows for notification of an adult
relative if a girl fears abuse from her own parents. But the no
campaign notes that if a girl chooses to have another family member
notified, her doctor must report her abusive parents to the authorities.

CBS News reports on South Dakota’s Measure 11:
 


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