For the third time since 2005, California voters will be given the opportunity to limit a minor's access to abortion until an adult family member is notified.

Two previous measures, Propositions 73 and 85, were defeated in 2005 and 2006, respectively. This year, Proposition 4 includes an added clause that was designed to protect teens from parental abuse.

"If the minor reports to the doctor that she's abused, then the doctor can notify another family member, but the doctor would then have to report the abuse to law enforcement services," said Albin Rhomberg, a spokesperson for the Yes on 4 campaign.

However, opponents of the proposition say that the clause would be inadequate in increasing teen safety and that the proposition is another right-wing attempt to restrict the implications of Roe v. Wade, a controversial United States Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in 1973.

"The people who put this initiative on the ballot are the same organizations that want to outlaw abortion completely," said Ashley Morris, regional director of the Vote Down 4 and 8 campaign. "This is about their political agenda, but what it's really doing is putting thousands of teens in jeopardy."

Morris works with the Vote Down 4 and 8 Coalition at UC Berkeley, a partnership of a dozen clubs including the Cal Berkeley Democrats and the Berkeley American Civil Liberties Union that frequently rally against Proposition 4 and Proposition 8, which defines marriage as the union of a man and woman.

UC Berkeley senior Natalie Camastra, a member of the coalition and co-president of the UC Berkeley chapter of the National Organization of Women, says that while the proposition would be beneficial in an ideal society, it could have harmful ramifications if passed.

"Yes, of course, in a perfect world, we want all of our kids to come talk to us, but constitutionally mandating this communication for all minors is very dangerous," she said. "We have to keep in mind those households where physical and emotional abuse is pervasive."

But junior Alberto Gonzalez, president of Berkeley Students for Life, said that if the proposition passes, it will be instrumental in those very households in which teens are subject to familial abuse.

Referencing a study conducted last year by the Heritage Center for Data Analysis, Gonzalez also said that abortion rates have dropped in each of the 34 states in which parental notification laws now exist.

However, junior Maria Krauter, the women's rights division director of the Berkeley American Civil Liberties Union, refuted the study, saying it does not include a large group of minors. Krauter is a former employee of The Daily Californian.

"Those states may have lower rates of abortion simply because they're barring a group of minors whose parents forced them not to have abortions against their free will," she said. "These kinds of actions today are just not okay."

Tags: ELECTIONS 2008, LOCAL ELECTIONS 2008, STATE ELECTIONS 2008, ABORTION