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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 1990)
The Battalion Monday, November 26, 1990 •OPINION* Opinion Page Editor Ellen Hobbs Mondi 845-3314 Women must unite to end battle over abortion StL lea If you look at the surface of today’s politics, the burning issue of the day seems to be abortion. We are forced to choose between the sanctity of life and the sanctity of free choice, both of which are important to most Americans. So if you call yourself pro-life, then you are against choice; and if you call yourself pro-choice, then you are against life. Women are divided into two camps; so nothing gets done, really. We are at a stalemate, with each camp winning a minor victory in some court here or there, but with no victories for women as a whole. But as long as women can be kept so divided, the government is safe from women making demands that might require a little action on the part of the people (mostly men) in office. Like demanding that the government subsidize pharmaceutical companies to develop new and more diverse methods of contraception, like the governments of other industrialized nations do. But why should they? Birth control, for the most part, is a women’s issue. And as long as it is, they really need not deal with it, unless we demand they do. Or demanding free birth control for low-income women who desire it. It’s cheaper than paying the welfare for their children, but too controversial for most politicians to touch. And what if we said that poor women should be provided with pre Regina Frankson Reader’s Opinion natal care, so that America’s atrocious infant-mortality rate could be lowered? And that women who already have children should have affordable child-care available to them, so that they can work or go to school and provide for them? And what if we wanted teenagers to be taught family planning in school, so that they have the facts to avoid pregnancy? Many women are personally opposed to abortion, but have to call themselves pro-choice because the opposition has very little voice of reason to it. For instance, it puts the life of the unborn over the life of the mother in a medical crisis, and does not allow exceptions for women who have been raped. They also refuse to see the financial and social plight an unwed pregnancy puts on a woman. Yet the pro-choice camp applauds abortion as a cure-all for most of women’s social ills. I have heard women who have been through abortions say that they could never do it again. It just doesn’t feel like having a simple little growth of cells removed. It hardly cures the crisis for every unwanted pregnancy. We need a movement saying that no woman or girl should have to find herself pregnant when she does not want to be, and no one should have to terminate a pregnancy because she feels she has no other choice. Its emphasis should be toward preventing unwanted pregnancy in the first place, and in seeing that a woman who finds herself pregnant does not have to terminate it out of financial or social necessity. We could call it “pro enlightenment”. It would be un-American, because it would not offer the instant gratification that we hold so dear in all of our social programs. It would take a lot of hard work. But it might even close down a good number of our abortion clinics someday — for lack of business. Regina Frankson is a junior journalism major. DALI finds w likely to persona with a hi and pun The professc versity < veyed 3 successf business tions. The i a contrc \ar posi Dallas N day. Dr. 1 lined in yard B ALPHi MSCR STUDI MSC / FORE! PHI Tt ALCO TEXA! POUT Nolan and others like him who choose to judge others with little concrete knowledge of the situation. While Texas has produced a number of noteworthy peo ple, so has Louisiana. Among them are Huey Long, John J. Audubon, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward Douglas White and Louis Armstrong. But there is a difference between Louisiana and Texas: In Louisiana David Duke did lose and in Texas Ann Richards was actually elected governor. Michelle Gonzales ’92 Bonfire basher, be constructive EDITOR: I would just like to comment on Kevin Cole and his elo quent essay on the defenseless trees. As a transfer student, I am really surprised at this so- called Aggie. If you are such an Aggie, why are you so quick to run to our rival school? Isn’t one of the purposes of college to enable us to face problems and try to solve them rather than complain mindlessly? Did it ever occur to you that rather than abolish an old tradition perhaps we could create a new and ecological solution? If you are so concerned with the ecological issues then you must be willing to set examples by your actions. I certainly hope that your contribution to this tree problem does not end with your brief expression of discontent. I don’t disagree with bonfire — it will always be an Aggie tradition to me. I just wish that the people who write in and whine about how awful the cutters are by taking away homes for animals could get a clue and realize nothing will get done this way. Bonfire is a tradition; it is not going to be stopped anytime soon, so instead of putting down others why not try to come up with a reasonable solution. For example, how about planting seeds in their place. ALCOI t NARCi Chalk destroys campus beauty EDITOR: I am writing this letter to express my thoughts and feel ings on a recent trend that has been rising on the University campus. At one time I remember walking through campus and en joying, daily, the beautiful campus that I expefidhted when I first visited Texas A&M. I have watched as thefittaintehance crew worked diligently cutting grass, trimming hedges, pull ing weeds, planting flowers, washing bird excrement from the sidewalks, and do other significant jobs to enhance the beauty of our campus. However, a recent trend has brought an abrupt end to our beautiful campus. Fees upon fees we pay to keep our campus beautiful and here come the CHALK MONSTERS, and in one fatal swoop, during the late-night hours, turn our campus into a pile of graffiti. To be honest, I think it makes our campus look like *•#!*#. I don’t know what motivates these immature indi viduals to deface the campus. Perhaps they were deprived as adolescents of an “Etch-A-Sketch;” I don’t know. I would rather get a nice birthday card than have my name written all over the sidewalks; I would rather read an nouncements off the announcement boards; I would rather get bird excrement on my boots than walk on these sidewalks. This is not the type of campus I would be proud to show to my parents. Who cares if “Hotard Exists!?” So what if it eventually washes away? While it’s there, it demeans our campus. It needs to stop before it gets out of hand. Birds are a part of nature, chalk isn’t. Luis H. Saldana ’91 Policy origins clarified EDITOR: I would like to thank Battalion staff er Julie Myers for her excellent article (Battalion, 11-9-90) on the new TAMU anti- discrimination policy. There are, however, two matters that I apparently failed to clarify during our interview. First, the figure of $750,000 that I gave her as the amount that the university had spent in its legal battle against the Gay Student Services was just my estimate. The fact is that only the University knows the full amount. The only hard infor mation I have is that the University was required to pay GSS legal fees amounting $250,000. We can safely conclude that , IMail Calll the total out-of-pocket expense to the University was consid erably more than that. Second, I apparently did not sufficiently emphasize the fact that it was President Mobley’s Committee for a Discrimi nation Free Campus, and not the University AIDS Commit tee, that drafted the final policy on harassment and discrimi- natiqn.. The report of the AIDS committee, whiqh urged that protection from discrimination and harassment be extended to all individuals regardless of sexual orientation, was only one of the recommendations which that committee received. Regardless of the origins of the new policy, the important thing is that our gay and lesbian students, faculty and staff must no longer be treated as second class Aggies. In this re gard the University has made a giant step forward. President Mobley’s administration deserves the thanks of every fair- minded member of the University community for its coura geous and intelligent action. Larry Hickman Professor of Philosophy Good news about Louisiana EDITOR: In reference to Patrick Nolan’s article “Good news, bad news in politics,” I would like to ask Mr. Nolan how much he actually knows about Louisiana politics. He states that the least deserving candidate who lost was David Duke. Then Nolan questions how a former Ku Klux Klan member could win 46 percent of the vote, but adds, “We’re talking about Louisiana.” As a student at Texas A&M for two-and-a-half years who is from Louisiana, I have come across a few people, like No lan, who criticize Louisiana yet know very little accurate infor mation. First of all, not all people from Louisiana are racist, stupid people as was implied. While I may not personally agree with' all of Duke’s opinions, he obviously has some good ideas, and that is the reason he received 46 percent of the vote. While many criticize David Duke, few know his platform, which just may be the reason he received so many votes, not because all the people of Louisiana are bigoted. And as quickly as Mr,. Nolan is to condemn Louisiana, I suggest he pay attention to what’s going on around him — I am speaking of the recent KKK rally right here in Franklin, Texas. But the issue isn’t for or against David Duke, it is Patrick Amy Swaggerty ’93 Have an opinion? Express it! Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, hut will make every effort to maintain the author's intent. There is no guarantee that letters submitted will be printed. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and telephone number of the writer. All letters may be brought to 216 Reed McDonald, or sent to Campus Mail Stop 1111. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Cindy McMillian, Editor Timm Doolen, Managing Editor Ellen Hobbs, Opinion Page Editor Holly Becka, City Editor Kathy Cox, Kristin North, News Editors Nadja Sabawala, Sports Editor Eric Roalson, Art Director Lisa Ann Robertson, Lifestyles Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-sup porting newspaper operated as a commu nity service to Texas A&M and Bryan- College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the au thor, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A&M regu lar semesters, except for holiday and ex amination periods. Newsroom: 845-3313. Mail subscriptions are $20 per semes ter, $40 per school year and $50 per full year: 845-2611. Advertising rates fur nished on request: 845-2696. Our address: The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col lege Station, TX 77843-1111. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843-4111. Adventures In Cartooning by Don Atkinson Jt l Tjmmo 1 tTR£5. tA0BL£Q- / uzrs see... sfeecM... KDLA(DS...F(F£ IMSUHRNOC... (ewf govs'I (oKM... 'booze /Al SOFT DZtm CMS •. • CoFDOMS K-V J£oy... VlCfURE nc m wcToPOJcue... feMA/esr-l cuewm glh... mo.., MOtVCV... CM K£QS... (C6 (xesr... foLVim cum,,, UWD*£acf//eF.„ juice,,