Schwarzenegger: Restrict abortions or I will kill somebody

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Bennett Cerf
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Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2003 7:54 pm

Schwarzenegger: Restrict abortions or I will kill somebody

Postby Bennett Cerf » Tue Oct 04, 2005 7:38 pm

Please forgive me if you've already heard about this. The quote is two weeks old, but I only learned about it today. I can only conclude that Schwarzenegger offers so many bizarre quotes that they no longer attract much attention.


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Governor speaks up on abortion

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday he supports the primary aim of a ballot initiative that would make most abortions for minors illegal without prior notification of the girls' parents or guardians, saying he'd "kill" someone who took one of his own daughters for an abortion without informing him.

"I have a daughter," Schwarzenegger said in an interview with The Bee. "I wouldn't want to have someone take my daughter to a hospital for an abortion or something and not tell me. I would kill him if they do that."

Schwarzenegger, who has two teenage daughters and two preteen sons, said in response to a follow-up question that he didn't literally mean he'd kill someone. But, in some of his first public comments about the substance of Proposition 73, the Republican governor left little doubt how he feels about young girls getting abortions without their parents being notified ahead of time.

"It will be the ultimate of being outraged about it and angry about it," he said.

"They call me when my daughter falls off the jungle gym in the school and they say, 'What do you want us to use? Can we put a Band-Aid on it? Do you want to come in? She's crying a little bit.'

"They call us about everything. I don't want them in that particular incident not to call us."

If one of his daughters sought an abortion on her own, he said, "then I would deal with that also."

The initiative would prohibit abortions for minors until 48 hours after a physician notifies a parent or legal guardian. If the proposed amendment to the California Constitution passes, abortion providers who violate the law would be subject to civil penalties.

The measure would allow a pregnant girl to petition a juvenile court judge to waive the notification requirement.

Despite what he called his belief in "the concept" of Proposition 73, Schwarzenegger, who supports a woman's right to have an abortion, said he's not sure whether he'll endorse the measure.

Schwarzenegger is already pushing four initiatives on the special election ballot Nov. 8, and he may not want to divert attention from those, he suggested. But he also knows the abortion measure is a potential wild card come November, when some political experts say it could be a big draw for conservative Republicans.

Such voters make up the core of Schwarzenegger's political support these days.

"There's many reasons why you get involved with an issue and why you don't," he said.

"It could be that we don't. We want to just keep (the agenda) narrow like the way it is now. It could be that we endorse. You've got to let me make that choice of when it is the appropriate time to do that."

In the 20-minute interview with The Bee, the governor said he is confident of winning passage of his ballot measures once the public hears more about them and sees more ads on television over the campaign's final six weeks.

Schwarzenegger made his remarks in one of a series of interviews he's doing this week with Capitol political reporters.

At about the same time, a joint Assembly and Senate Health Committee held a hearing assessing the potential impacts of Proposition 73.

Proponents for the initiative argued that the measure would protect a fundamental parental right to be consulted on matters involving their children's health and well-being.

"In California, a young girl under the age of 18 can't get a flu shot or an aspirin from the school nurse without a parent being notified," said Paul Laubacher, a Sacramento nurse and the official ballot proponent of the Proposition 73 initiative. "But a doctor can perform an abortion without notifying a parent or guardian."

But opponents of the measure told the committee that the initiative could further endanger young girls who are victims of sexual abuse or family violence.

Although Proposition 73 would allow minors to petition a judge to bar a parent or guardian from being notified of their plans to seek an abortion, opponents say the requirement would traumatize already confused and frightened girls.

"I believe it would create profound obstacles to public health," said Dr. Norma Jo Waxman, a family and reproductive health physician at San Francisco General Hospital.

"This initiative will cause frightened young women to delay seeking health care."

Some 34 states have passed laws requiring either parental notification or consent for minors seeking abortions.