Although many ballot initiatives that would threaten reproductive rights were defeated Tuesday night across the nation, we cannot consider last night a victory for the reproductive justice community.

But let’s start with the good news. In California, voters for the third time voted against a constitutional amendment that would require parental notification and a mandatory waiting period for a minor seeking an abortion. This time around, the proponents of the constitutional amendment purported to provide pregnant minors with another option: that of telling an adult relative (other than the parent) about the pregnancy, but having to simultaneously report her parents as abusive to authorities. Proposition 4 was defeated 52 to 47.

Voters in Colorado overwhelmingly rejected a measure that would have defined a fertilized egg as a legal human being. By providing legal protections for fertilized eggs, this measure would have had particularly devastating consequences, had it passed, as it would have called into question the legality of hormonal contraception, in vitro fertilization, and stem cell research in Colorado. Voters in South Dakota also rejected a second attempt to ban abortion in the state (this time with “exceptions” for rape, incest, and the health of the pregnant woman). And, in Michigan a measure was passed that would expand embryonic stem cell research in the state.

However, reproductive justice cannot be achieved until all people are treated equally and all people’s decisions about their reproductive and sexual self-determination are treated with dignity. In Florida, voters narrowly approved an amendment banning gay marriage. The Florida constitution will now define marriage as between one man and one woman. Voters in California similarly approved Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that eliminates the rights of same-sex couples to marry announced by the California Supreme Court in May of this year. Voters in Arizona supported a similar constitutional amendment.

And, in a stunning display of contempt for same-sex couples and committed unmarried heterosexual couples, 57% of voters in Arkansas voted to pass a proposal that disqualify all potential adoptive parents except for married couples. The measure also prohibits unmarried couples living together from fostering children.

Why anyone would want to make it even harder for a loving couple to adopt a child in the context of an already-broken adoption system is beyond me. Apparently, the goal is to “publicly affirm the gold standard of rearing children whenever we can”–not to match disadvantaged children with stable and caring parents. (In case you were wondering, the “gold standard” is “married mom and dad homes.”  The priority, then, is deciding whose lifestyle qualifies under a discriminatory and outdated definition of what a family is, not placing needy children in loving homes–to advance a “moral” agenda at the expense of kids without homes.

It’s curious that after reporting that this measure passed in Arkansas, the next sentence in this article is the following: “Tuesday was a relief for supporters of reproductive rights.” Adoption rights are reproductive rights. The rights of same-sex couples to marry and the rights of adults to become parents are reproductive rights. I don’t know about you, but after hearing about the measures that passed in California, Arizona, and Arkansas, the last emotion I feel is relief.

-Amanda Allen

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 9:54 pm and is filed under sexuality, 2008 Election. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.