The State - News from Dec. 20, 1985

Sponsors of a proposed initiative measure banning state-financed abortions in California failed to meet the deadline for qualifying it for next June’s ballot with the required 630,136 petition signatures. Campaign workers would not say how many names they had, but Renate Penney of Sacramento, the chief proponent, said the number fell short “by the narrowest of margins.” The initiative would have permitted a state-paid abortion only when the mother’s life is in danger, unlike a rival proposed constitutional amendment that is aimed at the November, 1986, ballot and is still being circulated.