In last year's special November election, Proposition 73 --- the parental notification of abortion initiative --- came the closest among eight measures on the ballot to passing. It lost by only 5.6 percent, while most of the other initiatives went down to defeat by more than 20 percent.

Bolstered by the narrowness of the defeat, supporters of the Parents' Right to Know and Child Protection initiative have been working since early February, hoping to gather some 900,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot of the upcoming November 2006 election.

To date, almost 700,000 names have been gathered for the initiative that would require physicians to notify a minor's parents or legal guardian 48 hours before performing an abortion. But time is running short to collect and process the remaining signatures by May 15.

"This issue shouldn't even be on the ballot," said Bob Cielnicky, director of Life Priority Network in Orange County. "Obviously, who is in a better position to help advise their daughter during a life crisis like a pregnancy out of wedlock than her parents? Who has her interest most in their life?

Cielnicky has been working mainly with local churches, encouraging them to collect signatures from their congregants.

"The bottom line is we're very much in the running, but it's not over," he told The Tidings. "The next couple of weeks are crucial."

Albin Rhomberg, an organizer and spokesperson for the campaign, pointed out that collecting the signed petitions was a complex process. A paid firm in Newport Beach, Thomas Bader & Associates, has been doing most of the signature gathering in the state. Volunteers are also collecting names outside of churches and other locales. In addition, telephone solicitation is being conducted.

He reported that most of the names so far had come from five counties in California: Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside.

"I'll tell you, it's a very complicated procedure, and they make it very difficult," Rhomberg said, adding: "This weekend is an excellent weekend to collect signatures, and the following weekend is OK, too. But it will be a bit of a struggle to get them all processed."

Licia Nicassio --- who headed the Los Angeles Archdiocese's Office of Respect life for 17 years, and currently serves on the Commission for Catholic Life Issues --- believes Propositions 73 didn't pass last year because it was "swept up" by all the negative publicity against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's propositions, which were all soundly defeated.

She would like to see a parental consent initiative on the ballot more than a simple notification measure, but believes the former would never "fly" in the pro-choice Golden State.

"It's a matter of justice," Nicassio said. "Parents should know what's happening with their kids. And for someone outside the family, outside the two parents, to be able legally to take a child to have an abortion is against everything we hold to be fair and sacred."

The communications director of the California Catholic Conference, Carol Hogan, said the statewide organization will do "everything possible" to promote the parental notification initiative if it gets on the November ballot.

She said a statement in March by Edward Dolejsi, executive director of the conference, encouraged Catholics and others who supported the health of children and rights of parents to back the signature gathering with their "time, talent and treasure."

Hogan warned that the hard part, however, will come in getting the initiative passed once it's on the November ballot.

"Just getting pro-life people to vote for it will not pass it," she said. "You have to get pro-choice people behind it, too. Probably 35 percent of voters would be the max you could get from just getting the pro-life base out. So there's a real blind spot on the part of the proponents --- it's more than getting it on the ballot.

"But, frankly, to win a ballot initiative in California I think you're talking a minimum of $5 million and probably closer to $10 million to do a credible job. It's just too big of a state. You can't do it without TV ads to counter the negative television ads against it.

"So," she mused, "it remains to be seen what's going to happen this year."