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We asked PROFESSOR MELODY ROSE to answer a few questions about November initiatives in Oregon and California that will, if approved, require parents to be notified before a teenager under 18 can obtain an abortion. Rose, political science faculty, is author of the new book, Safe, Legal, and Unavailable? Abortion Politics in the United States, CQ Press, Washington, D.C., 2006.

Q: How many states have this exact law or a similar law?
A: Thirty-five states have laws requiring some level of parental involvement, and another nine have similar laws that are in legal challenge.

Q: What have you seen in states that have passed a parental notice law?
A: Most voters who have approved parental notification do so for two reasons: They think it will keep girls safe, and/or they believe parental notification will decrease the abortion rate. Neither proposition is confirmed by the data. Girls become willing to travel out of state, resort to self-abortion or illegal abortion, or leave home in order to circumvent the laws.
In the last decade, the abortion rate for all women, including teenagers, has declined, which scholars attribute to the overall decline in unintended pregnancies and better contraceptive use. It is interesting to me that globally, abortion rates are disconnected from the legal environment: Some of the countries with the highest abortion rates in the world are countries where the procedure is illegal, and the penalties to women are severe.

Q: How would you place Oregon and California on the national spectrum of attitudes toward abortion?
A: Both states have very few restrictions on abortion. A parental notification measure failed in California only last year by the modest margin of 53 to 47 percent. Oregonians voted on a similar measure 16 years ago, rejecting it by 52 to 48 percent.