Proposition 4 is an initiated amendment that will appear on the Nov. 4 California ballot.

The initiative would prohibit abortion for unemancipated minors until 48 hours after a physician notifies that minor’s parent, legal guardian or, if parental abuse has been reported, an alternative adult family member.

While there are arguments for and against requiring physicians to acquire parental consent, there is more to consider when deciding where you stand on Proposition 4 – namely, the measure’s right-wing supporters have ulterior motives.

Besides protecting youth from backroom abortions, the right wing plans to use Proposition 4 as a stepping stone to two other ends: first, they would extend parental notification requirements to all confidential medical services for minors, not just abortion; second, they would use it to make abortion illegal in California.

Remember, this measure is supported by virtually all the same folks behind Proposition 8 (the ballot measure to strip marriage rights for same-sex couples); the same people who said Proposition 22, which restricted marriage to one man and one woman, also prevented the state from recognizing any rights to unmarried couples, including domestic partners.

These people want to prevent our schools from teaching sex education and enforce teaching abstinence until marriage. They want to overturn Lawrence v. Texas so states may again criminalize consensual sex between unmarried adults. So naturally they would gladly take a law supposedly designed to protect teens from back-room abortion and manipulate it to advance their agenda.

This gives the GLBT community added incentive to oppose Proposition 4.

Because if Proposition 4 supporters succeed in stripping California teens of their right to confidential medical services with regard to abortions, they will eventually require physicians to notify teens’ parents of all services related to sexual activities, such as treatment for STDs.

As the Centers for Disease Control reported this summer, the highest incidence of STDs occurs in gay males between 13 and 24. Proposition 4 would set the age of right to privacy at 18, which would mean many GLBT teens, fearing parental notification, would either go untested or untreated, thus spreading STDs to their sexual partners.

Obviously, such teens need to be able to get testing, counseling and treatment without the fear that medical professionals will have to notify parents. California’s courts recognize this; that’s why they legislated a constitutional right to privacy law beginning at 14, the onset of puberty. But Proposition 4 supporters want to have this rescinded on the basis that it is federally unconstitutional.

They’ve tried twice before and failed both times by a slim margin. But this time, the Proposition is expected to pass. A Sept. 26 poll by the independent, non-partisan Field Research Corporation, found that 49 percent of voters intend to vote yes to Proposition 4, while 41 percent plan to vote no.

An additional 10 percent are undecided. If you’re one of them, please consider our GLBT and questioning teens and help to protect their right to medical confidentiality. Vote no on Proposition 4.