The Battalion
OPINION
2
Tuesday, April 25,1989
WHO SAYS
LOVE PIEO IN THE GOi
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Supreme Court decision must
allow abortion to remain legal
The Supreme Court is hearing argu
ments which may lead to a complete or
partial reversal of the landmark Roe v.
Wade decision which legalized abortion
in 1973.
In recent months, the media has been
saturated with both pro-life and pro-
choice opinions.
Stephanie
Stribling
tion to support the child, both finan
cially and emotionally, and her decision
is based on careful consideration of the
facts, then abortion should be an alter
native.
Columnist
I am convinced that making abortion
illegal will be a giant leap backward to a
time when ignorance and piety ruled
over rational, logical thought.
will simply make it an infinitely more
dangerous proposition.
My biggest problem with the pro-life
position is the presumptuous implica
tion that abortion is a black and white is
sue. Pro-lifers have transformed abor
tion into a single question of right or
wrong, when the issue is actually a series
of questions that must be answered be
fore individuals can pass judgment on
abortion. Every person must ask them
selves:
There is no question that unwanted
pregnancy is a mistake. Some pro-lifers
believe that abortions circumvent the
price a woman must pay for that mis
take. However, unless a woman is com
pletely without conscience, there are
few who would say abortion is not costly,
both physically and emotionally.
Forcing a woman to give up her child
for adoption is not a viable alternative to
reduce the number of abortions. If she
is not prepared to raise the child herself,
she should not be forced to subject that
child to the even more uncertain future
of adoption or foster care. If pro-lifers
are really dedicated to using adoption as
an alternative to abortion, they should
consider adopting five or six unwanted
children themselves. That would really
help the cause.
Is death sometimes a preferred alter
native?
At what point does a fetus becomes a
human life?
Whether that price is paid immedi
ately or years later, it will be paid. Un
like miscarriage, where a woman is en-
couraged to heal herself both
emotionally and physically, a woman
who has had an abortion is expected to
walk away from it unscathed. She has no
opportunity to grieve her loss.
There are alternatives to reducing
the number of abortions. Making them
illegal is not the answer. In particular,
violence as a means of bringing about
reform is not the answer. To take a life
in the name of saving one is even more
heinous a crime than the one the pro
lifers claim to be fighting.
Does a woman have the right to de
cide the life or death of that fetus?
Does a woman have the right to
choose death over a poor quality of life
for her child?
Until these questions are answered to
each individual’s satisfaction, that per
son is in no position to make an in
formed decision about abortion. The
answers to these questions lie not in con
sensus of the masses, but as a matter of
personal belief.
Some pro-lifers use the argument
that repeat offenders, who use abortion
as a form of birth control, are represen
tative of abortion as an easy alternative.
But this argument doesn’t merit dis
cussion. There will always be opposing
extremes, but their numbers are too few
to consider. Most women who abort a
child will not make the same painful
mistake again.
The pro-lifers are too busy battling
the symptom, not the disease. They for
get we are all members of a society that
condones premarital sex as easily as it
points a finger at the results.
Regardless of the legality of abortion,
it is inevitable. Although inevitability is
not reason enough to legalize any ac
tion, it should play an important role in
the decision. As long as women continue
to have unwanted pregnancies, they will
continue to find a way to terminate
those pregnancies. Making abortion ille
gal will not eliminate the procedure, it
Women do pay a price, regardless of
their decision to abort. Forcing a woman
to carry a pregnancy to term only in
flicts the price of her mistake on her in
nocent, unborn child, which I find
obscene.
Changing our attitudes about prema
rital sex is one alternative to reducing
the number of abortions. Through edu
cation, we are changing our attitudes
about drugs. We can certainly do the
same with premarital sex. Particularly
since the fatal dimension of AIDS has
been added to the equation.
The quality of life for the child should
be the foremost consideration when a
woman is deciding the future of that
child. If she decides she is not in a posi-
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BLOOM COUNTY
Don’t mess with
the postal service
It’s doubtful that Joseph Champlin is
a wealthy man. He’s only 20 years old
and lives in the working class neighbor
hood of Canaryville on the South Side
of Chicago. My guess is that he doesn’t
have a lot of money to throw around.
AUSTIN (AF
Monday that wo
ets to entertain
contests, and wi
certain telephon
Another bill s
proval would pi
state employees.
Yet, he made a very foolish and po
tentially costly investment last week, if
police reports can be believed.
Bailey returned to the postal station,
told his supervisor what happened,
they drove back to pick up the bags.
Champlin may have invested as much
as two years of his freedom and the
price of hiring a lawyer. All for the du
bious satisfaction of being a racial bigot.
“When we got there, the police were
already there and they asked metogi
in the squad car to try and find the guy,
I’ve been unable to reach Champlin
to discuss his alleged investment. But a
version of the story has been told by
Larry Bailey, 20, a Chicago mail carrier.
A police department spokesman said
the cops were already there because
someone who lived nearby saw the inci
dent and was decent enough to i
And they helped identify Champlin.
Bailey doesn’t have a regular mail
route yet. He fills in wherever he’s
needed.
Police tracked Champlin down
through his license plate number,
although he tried to escape by running
and ducking into a buillding, they
grabbed him.
And last week he was needed in the
Canaryville neighborhood, which has a
long history of racial hostility.
Bailey picks up the story:
“It was the end of the day and I was
getting ready to get off and I was pick
ing up my bags.
Then he was booked on one charge
of aggravated assault. That was for
menacing Bailey with the stick andchas
ing him. If found guilty on that charge,
he could be sentenced to a year in
prison.
“All of a sudden, this blue car pulls
up and stops. I didn’t pay no mind, but
then this guy jumped out with a big stick
in his hand.
Champlin also was charged witheth
nic intimidation. That was for combin
ing the threat with racial epithets. If
found guilty on that charge, he could
draw another year in prison.
“He said: T told you niggers about
coming around here. I’m going to show
you.’
“He came at me and I took off and
ran down to the end of the block. T hen
I stopped and watched him. Another
carload of guys pulled up and he talked
to them. Then they took off in different
directions.”
Unless he pleads poverty and gets a
free public defender, he is going to have
to hire a lawyef. Criminal lawyers don't
work cheap and most of them wiselyast
for the money up front. And if Cham
plin does plead poverty, the judge
might ask him how he can afford to own
a car if he can’t afford a lawyer.
he Battalioi
ST
Tuesday, A
Sen
teselli
But his problems might not end
there.
Bailey is no fool, and he’s familiar
with the attitudes of some of the people
who live in that neighborhood.
Leaving the mailbags where they
were, he prudently took off on foot for
the postal station, which is only a few
blocks away.
It is against federal laws to mess
around with a mail carrier. The postal
inspectors also are looking into this case.
And if they decide there is sufficient
evidence, they will turn it over to the
U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution in
federal court.
He made it safely, but the trip was de
pressing. As Bailey explained:
“As I was going up the street, I saw
some kids playing basketball. They
started chasing me and throwing sticks
and things at me, and calling me names.
Just little kids.”
The average law-abiding person gets
stomach butterflies when pulled over
for running a yellow light. And goingto
traffic court can bring on a case of the
sweats.
Just little kids. It would be nice if
their parents had them watch the video
of the musical “South Pacific.” There’s a
song about how kids have to be taught
to hate. On the other hand, their par
ents have apparently taught them al
ready.
So imagine how young Mr. Champlin
must be feeling, faced with the prospect
of standing trial on a truly serious rap.
We need to quit sending mixed sig
nals to women. It is the heighth of hy
pocrisy to condone premarital sex and
simultaneously condemn unwanted pre
gnancy. The two will be inextricably
linked forever.
As Bailey said: “I was surprised, espe
cially this being election time. You’d
think everything would be cool and
calm, but it’s not.”
Of course, Champlin is presumed in
nocent until found guilty. But if Bailey's
story is true, and a judge or a jury be
lieves him and those who witnessed the
incident, Champlin really should add
up the costs and ask himself if being a
jerk is worth it.
Stephanie Stribling is a senior jour
nalism major and a columnist for The
Battalion.
(By that, Bailey meant that the inci
dent occurred only a few blocks from
the home of Richard M. Daley has been
trying to shed the racist stigma of his
neighborhood.)
And if he is found guilty, I sincerely
hope a judge throws the book at him,
Really, guys like him give being white
a bad name.
Copyright 1989, Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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