Proposed California ’spanking’ ban would intrude on parental rights
Crosswalk carries this CNSNews report. It indicates:
“Good parents in California could be jailed,” unless they rise up and oppose a bill intended to ban the spanking of children, a conservative group is warning.
The bill, AB 2943, is scheduled for a vote on Tuesday, April 15, and the Campaign for Children and Families is urging Californians to speak against the measure at a hearing preceding the vote.
“AB 2943 would label good, loving parents — who occasionally use a little paddle, a ruler, a little stick, or a brush to correct their youngster’s misbehavior — as official “child abusers” in the eyes of the law,” said Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families.
The Mercury News carries this report from April 4th: Mountain View lawmaker who filed no-spanking bill wants to ban slapping of young kids.
The California Family Council provided this update on the bill yesterday:
Amended last week, AB 2943 (Lieber) has already been scheduled in the in Assembly Public Safety Committee next Tuesday. This bill, essentially the same as AB 755, would confuse the issues of parental discipline loving applied and child abuse. While it is already illegal to “willfully cause or permit a child to suffer, or to inflict on a child unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering,” AB 2943 would criminalize the non-injurious swat of a child with virtually any object, such as a ruler, newspaper, or paddle. Lieber, who believes any spanking is child abuse, deliberately touts this bill as a child-abuse/corporal-punishment bill. Disingenuous packaging enables this bill to fly below the radar, but in essence, the complex language would result in parental misunderstandings, and good, honest parents running afoul of zealous law-enforcement officials.
Laura Ingraham is discussing this proposal in today’s broadcast.