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Above: An ACLU/SC No on 85 house party last month.

California voters soundly rejected Proposition 85, which would have required parental notification of abortion for pregnant teens and put those in violent or abusive homes at risk of further injury. "Californians voted to protect all our daughters, not just those who live in safe homes with loving parents," said ACLU/SC executive director Ramona Ripston. "Laws don't mandate good family communication."

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined the state's top medical groups, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU/SC in opposing Proposition 85. ACLU/SC members held dozens of house parties to educate voters about Proposition 85, knocked on voters' doors, and raised money to support No on 85 ads and direct voter-to-voter contact.

For the second year in a row, Californians turned away a parental notification law that would have hurt teens and threatened choice. The percentage of those who opposed Proposition 85 actually grew from last year, when a virtually identical measure failed.

Studies from the 35 states that have parental-notification laws in effect show that they do not affect teen pregnancy or abortion rates. Instead, pregnant teens go out of state or delay seeking abortion services until they are 18, which increases medical risks. California's teen-pregnancy rate has fallen 40% since 1990, a result of comprehensive sexuality education, real-world contraception information, and support for family communication. For more information about the real solutions to teen pregnancy and the dangers of parental notification laws, visit the facts page of our No on 85 site.

L.A.'s Housing Hurdle: Los Angeles voters had a chance to give affordable housing a much-needed boost in one of the country's most-expensive cities. But Measure H came up 4 points short of a two-thirds majority. The ACLU/SC endorsed the plan to spend $1 billion for the homeless, battered spouses, and the city's working poor.

"Housing the homeless is one of the great challenges facing Los Angeles as it strives to be a city that takes care of all its residents, not just its wealthiest," said Ripston. The ACLU/SC has repeatedly called for a countywide effort to address the overcrowding of downtown's Skid Row. According to the county, some 50,000 homeless have no access to shelter of any kind, including 1,000 of the estimated 10,000 who live in Skid Row.

In recent years, the L.A. police have arrested people for sitting or sleeping on the street when there was no shelter available, a practice the Ninth Circuit Court ruled illegal. "You can't arrest your way out of homelessness," said ACLU/SC legal director Mark Rosenbaum. "The chief agrees with us, and so do the city attorney and the mayor."

Measure H also included $250 million to help first-time low-income home buyers. More than two-thirds of L.A. city residents can not afford to buy a median-priced home.

About ACLU/SC Endorsements: The ACLU is a nonpartisan organization and does not take positions endorsing candidates. The ACLU/SC endorses ballot measures selectively. In the Nov. 7 election, we supported measures to extend equal access to housing and education and opposed efforts to limit reproductive rights.

"No law can force good communication in our families," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tells La Opinión readers in a Spanish-language ad. The mayor and the ACLU of Southern California have joined forces to warn all Californians about the risks Proposition 85 poses for pregnant teens and our families. As a father of three daughters, Mayor Villaraigosa urges parents to protect children who live in dangerous homes by voting no on Proposition 85.

The ACLU/SC and the state's leading medical groups oppose Proposition 85 because it would threaten teenage girls who live in abusive homes where they can't talk with their parents about their pregnancy. In an editorial, La Opinión also urged its readers to vote no on Proposition 85: "There are special circumstances that require that we maintain the privacy of our daughters in cases where there is violence or sexual abuse at home."

Five months after a federal judge called conditions in L.A. County jails "inconsistent with basic human values," the ACLU of Southern California exposed fresh evidence of overcrowding and filthy conditions.

This week, Judge Dean D. Pregerson wrote that the central processing hub for the seven-facility L.A. County jail system has "defaulted to the lowest permissible standard of care" and ordered strict new measures to correct the situation.

According to eye-witness accounts and more than two dozen statements collected by the ACLU/SC, hundreds of men arraigned but not convicted of any offense have been held at the Inmate Reception Center for as long as four days in unspeakable conditions.

ACLU/SC jail monitors found that "thirty to forty men are being crammed into holding cells so small that they must take turns lying down on the hard filthy floor." They are held "without regular meals and with no access to showers, beds or mattresses."

Judge Pregerson prohibited the Sheriff's Department from holding more than 20 inmates for more than 24 hours in small holding cells at the Inmate Reception Center.

"Inmates should not be stripped of the bare requisites of dignity and decency," said ACLU/SC legal director Mark Rosenbaum.