Planned Parenthood of Alaska is filing an appeal asking a higher court to invalidate an initiative that would ask voters if a doctor planning to perform an abortion on a girl under age 18 should have to notify the girl's parents.
The appeal was expected after a state Superior Court judge ruled last month largely in favor of the initiative, which is being backed by anti-abortion advocates.
People who signed the petition were misled by language in the petition booklet, according to Laura Einstein, legal director for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest. The rights group said the signers may have thought they were supporting something different because the proposal and its ramifications were not clearly written. Even though that was the case, Judge Frank Pfiffner ruled March 16 that the initiative's backers did not need to get new signatures.
The initiative backers submitted the signatures of 36,285 people supporting their measure to the lieutenant governor's office, which organizes elections. They want it included on the August statewide primary ballot.
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