The California Republican Party has targeted religious conservatives who might be motivated to vote for the abortion-notification amendment. Luring them to the polls could help Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's package of reform measures, which seeks budgetary, election, education and union changes.

The initiative would require doctors to give parents or guardians at least 48 hours written notice before performing an abortion on a minor. Adults would not have to consent to the procedure, and girls facing a medical emergency or who obtain a judge's waiver would be exempt.

Sponsors hope the notification requirement would reduce California's teen-abortion rate, the nation's fourth-highest. A study by Smith College economics professor Deborah Haas-Wilson showed that the nu seeking abortions fell between 13 percent and 25 percent in states that adopted parental-notification or consent laws.

Opponents say such a mandate puts girls who have poor relationships with their parents unnecessarily at risk. Vicki Saporta, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Abortion Federation, cites the case of an Indiana girl who died after getting an illegal abortion because she didn't want to disappoint her parents.

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