No social legislation is too extreme for the Democrats who
control California’s senate, assembly, and governor’s office. The
number of outlandish bills passed or proposed on their watch is
staggering. This week’s bill on Gray Davis’s desk, for example,
would force foster parents to receive homosexual sensitivity
training.
California Democrats will likely pay a political price for this
free-for-all. While the state’s media and political elite reside on
the far left of social thought, average Californians do not. The
Democrats’ aggressive social agenda invites a populist revolt.
In 1998, Californians overwhelmingly supported Proposition 22,
the defense of marriage initiative. And polling on other social
issues suggests that Californians still view moral liberalism with
reserve.
Consider a Zogby poll conducted this summer on potential
pro-life ballot initiatives in the state.(San Diego publisher Jim
Holman commissioned it.) The Zogby poll found that Californians
strongly support many pro-life measures.
To the question, for instance, “Would you vote yes or no on a
proposition which would require at least one parent to be notified
before an abortion can be performed on their daughter under the age
of 16?” 85% of respondents said yes.
Eighty-four percent said that they would support a proposition
requiring “that before an abortion was performed, a pregnant woman
would have to receive accurate information about the options
available to her, and the consequences and health risks to herself
and future childbearing from an abortion.”
Should there be a 24-hour waiting period before a woman can get
an abortion? Zogby asked. Sixty-nine percent of respondents said
yes. And 48% said that they would support a 48-hour waiting
period.
The poll also indicated support for restrictions on taxpayer
funding of abortion. Asked if they would support a measure that
prohibited taxpayer funding of “abortions for a minor, unless a
parent or guardian was notified before an abortion was performed,”
60% of respondents said yes. Fifty-eight percent said they would
vote yes to a proposition which would restrict “taxpayer funding of
abortions…only when necessary to preserve the life of the
mother.”
Christopher Zehnder, writing in San Diego News Notes,
notes that “Hispanic and African American support for all the
proposed initiatives is higher than white support,” and that
ignorance among all groups of “how many abortions the state of
California pays for” is astonishingly high. Asked by Zogby, “Are
you aware or not aware that the state of California pays for
approximately 10,000 abortions per month for any reason, including
birth control?” only 25% of respondents said that they were aware
of those numbers. Seventy-four percent said that they were not.
California Democrats thrive on such ignorance. They can ram
through all manner of moral novelty as long as Californians aren’t
paying attention. California Democrats can count on this condition
thanks to a socially liberal press and a sleeping Republican
Party.
But California Democrats are getting greedy. They have been
celebrating loudly in recent weeks the passage of the most
pro-abortion legislation in the country. Davis beamed with pride as
he signed bills requiring all medical programs in the state to
teach students how to perform abortions and all hospitals to supply
women with emergency abortifacients. He has recently signed
legislation giving homosexual partners spousal inheritance rights,
which led the ACLU to gush over California as the state with the
“most expansive” domestic partner laws after Vermont.
In pushing the most outré elements of the left-wing
agenda, the California Democrats are begging for backlash. How many
homosexual foster parent bills and NOW-sponsored wish-list items
can they pass before the state swings back to the right? The Zogby
poll suggests that day is coming sooner than the Dems think.
