Health Care

* How would you feel if your teenager asked for the car so that she could do some research at the library. Sounds good. Great kid.

How would you feel if she stopped and picked up a couple of friends, went to the mall and hung out for a while, got bored and drove to a local field or beach and partied with her friends, came home after curfew and never made it to the library?

Wake up! A bunch of out-of-control teenagers are running the state Legislature. Here’s what they are telling school lobbyists:

“We want to increase accessibility to medical care for children in low-income areas. Will you support AB 1363?”

Here’s what they are actually planning [to do]:

* Deprive parents of the ability to monitor and control the physical, mental and reproductive care of their own children.

* Run private practice physicians and local pharmacies out of California.

* Create the infrastructure for national health care.

Here’s how they are going to do it:

* Establish school health centers offering comprehensive physical, mental and reproductive health services to children during school hours.

* Allow school districts to set their own guidelines for parental consent and notification.

* Establish federally funded contracts with large network providers for clinics at or near school sites through the federally funded Healthy Families insurance program.

Do you want to give the federal government and local school districts control over your child’s health? Do you want the federal government controlling your health care decisions?

It’s time to provide some serious discipline for those teens running amok at the state capitol. Call, fax, write and e-mail the governor. Tell him you want him to veto AB 1363.

CINDY COUGHLON

Moorpark