Roundup: Palin Supports Parental Involvement Measure

Palin backs parental notification initiative; anti-choice license plate fight likely to end up in Supreme Court; US has chance to ratify UN Convention on Rights of the Child; another name for Souter's seat.

Palin Backs Parental Involvement Initiative
Gov. Sarah Palin supports a measure to require parental notification of teenagers under 18 seeking abortion, the Anchorage Daily News
reports.  "The measure would generally forbid a
girl under 18 from getting an
abortion unless the doctor informed at least one of her parents
beforehand." It’s not a bill, though, it’s a ballot initiative — voters,
not legislators, will decide. The Daily News explains, "The initiative is the result of
a bill stalling in the state Senate
that would have required girls under 17 to tell their parents they’re
about to have an abortion…Palin, a Republican, blamed ‘inflexibility
by some senators’ for the
bill not passing. She said a young girl should have the counsel of her
parents in such a major decision."

Anti-Choice License Plate Fight Likely to End Up in Supreme Court
The Guardian covers the ever-escalating and expanding fight over anti-choice license plates:

The rising popularity of specialised number plates – which allow
drivers to express allegiances to everything from fishing to support
for war widows – has enabled a growing number of states to offer Choose
Life plates. That has prompted political and legal battles in states
that are refusing to adopt them, as well as demands for plates in
support of abortion rights in states that permit the Choose Life
version. The arguments look increasingly likely to end up before the
supreme court.

Abortion rights groups are fighting back. They won a federal court
ruling that South Carolina can only issue Choose Life number plates if
it also permits one in support of the right to choose termination…

The
growing number of legal cases and the differing rulings make it
increasingly likely that the issue will end up in the supreme court,
even though it has refused to hear similar cases four times in recent
years.

 

US Has Chance to Ratify UN Convention on Rights of the Child

Among the UN treaties the US has failed to ratify is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  But both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have spoken out in support of ratification.  Explains the AP, "Its supporters view the treaty as a valuable guidepost for
children’s basic rights – including education, health care and
protection from abuse – and say its global goals are undermined by the
refusal of the world’s lone superpower to ratify it."  Opponents of the treaty claim that it will erode parents’ rights and undercut US sovereignty.  Opponent Michael Farris, conservative lawyer, argues that the treaty "potentially could bar U.S. parents from
spanking their children and empower young people to have abortions and
choose a religion without parental consent. Supporters of the U.N. treaty say such warnings are vastly overstated."

Another Name for Souter’s Seat
Another name for the Supreme Court…Appoint critical race scholar Kimberle Crenshaw, Melissa Harris-Lacewell writes on The Nation.  "Kimberle Crenshaw is a field-defining critical race scholar who earned a law degree from Harvard. Her writings on race, gender, and the power of law
dynamically altered the academic discourse in law schools throughout
the world. Her work has been central to political movements here in the
United States and to the development of emerging democracies globally.
She is a prolific legal scholar and a respected public intellectual."