Though I can understand where columnist Nicole Forde is coming from (“Prop. 4 may drive teen girls to abort illegally,” Oct. 15), you have to realize that the more pressing issue here (more so than intolerant, drunken parents) is protecting young girls from child predators who use secret abortions to cover up their crimes.
Proposition 4 is also known as Sarah’s Law, from the 15-year-old who visited an abortion clinic in Houston in 1994 and emerged postabortion with a tear in her cervix. She died shortly afterward of an infection that could have been treated had she sought treatment earlier. Her parents had no idea, until it was too late. How is it that a doctor can perform a serious, intrusive medical procedure on a little girl without parental notification (please note that I did not say “consent” ““ merely “notification”). Is it just me, or is something wrong with this?
The bottom line is this: Proposition 4 is about parents protecting their children from sex offenders and from deaths like Sarah’s. Doesn’t everyone deserve that protection? Vote yes on Prop. 4!
Katrina Murata
Fourth-year, history