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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2001)
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I relatipnslui i say they- But will t Brief Island Mole’ __ m the Pi , bikini-d 8 ; tropical L ' ill than pa (t aoking f° r: to take ft® ■ s for Fo*; ’’ and ABC ; si a I serie: nic single 5 " to tempt r i, drew It; :s second Media b 10 the re* -CBS' ; its Austra J 1 Sunday.' . .rr- Wednesday, January 24, 2001 STATE THE BATTALION Ruling on abortion funding appealed AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas attorney general’s office has appealed a court ruling that said the state violates poor women’s constitutional rights by denying them Medicaid money to pay for med ically necessary abortions. The state’s appeal was filed late Monday and puts an important question before the Republican- dominated state Supreme Court: Should taxpayer money be used to pay for some abortions? “It’s going to be a good litmus test for them,” said Kae McLaughlin, executive director of the Texas Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. Abortion opponents agreed. “This is the first time in my knowledge the court will consider whether the Texas Constitution has a right to abortion and whether taxpayers will be forced to pay for abortions,” said Joe Pojman, executive director of Greater Austin Right to Life. The court will choose whether to hear the ap peal or reject it. Both sides said they expect the case to be granted oral argument, which could come later this year. “I think it would be highly unlikely for them not to take the case,” Pojman said. “It’s such a funda mental issue.” The court currently has eight members, all of them from the GOP. Republican Gov. Rick Per ry has yet to appoint someone to fill the vacan cy left by former Justice A1 Gonzalez, a Repub lican who resigned to be White House counsel for President Bush. Medicaid is a federal and state program that pays for health care for the poor. Federal law pro- « This is the first time in my knowledge the court will con sider whether the Texas con stitution has a right to abor- tion.” - joe Pojman Executive director of Greater Austin Right to Life hibits federal Medicaid money from paying for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger. Texas officials used the same criteria for spending state money. But the Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled last month that the state’s position violates women’s equal rights under the Texas constitution. Texas voters amended the state constitution in 1972 to include equality under the law regardless of sex, race, color, creed or national origin. The appeal from Republican Attorney John Cornyn’s office, however, argues that the goal of the restriction is to encourage child birth over abor tion. To meet that goal, there are limits to paying for abortions, the appeal said. The Austin appeals court ruled the restriction is unconstitutional partly because it affected only women. No procedure available to men met the same restrictions, the court said. Doctors and family planning clinics that pro vide abortions for Medicaid-eligible women filed a lawsuit in 1998 on behalf of poor women in Texas. Women suffering from heart disease, hyper tension, cancer, epilepsy and other complica tions run serious health risks when pregnant, the doctors said. Under current law, a doctor may recommend an abortion in such cases but Medicaid will not pay for it. Those women are forced to extend a risky pregnancy while trying to raise the money them selves, the doctors said. The state should pay for an abortion a doctor deems “medically necessary” even if the woman’s life is not in imminent danger, the doctors said. More benefits for poor Texans Lawmakers try to increase Medicaid users District’s drug tests battled AMARILLO (AP) — Hollister Gardner, a former Tulia High School student who sued the school district over its drug testing policy has also filed a cross appeal with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. In December, U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson found the district’s “mandatory random, suspicionless drug testing” policy violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreason able search and seizure. Robinson ruled that the dis trict should refrain from testing Molly Gardner, a high school se nior, or her brother, Colby Gard ner, a sophomore. But she did not award their cousin, Hollister Gardner, now 21 and a senior at Angelo State University, any damages. Nor did she raise his grades or find the district in vio lation of the Texas Open Meet ings Act as he had requested. In 1997, Gardner, then a straight-A student at Tulia High School, sued the district. The suit claimed that forcing him to under go a drug test to participate in the National Honor Society violated his constitutional rights. The district’s policy requires all students involved in extracurricu lar activities — about 80 percent of the student body — to submit to randorh drug tests. Gardner alleges his grades were harmed when his high school prin cipal refused to excuse absences in retaliation for his lawsuit and says the principal and the board treated him differently than other students. AUSTIN (AP) — Several law makers set out Tuesday to streamline the Texas Medicaid application process by eliminating rules that they say are pushing hundreds of thou sands of poor children out of the grasp of public health care. The biggest obstacle for many poor families is the pile of paperwork that must be completed to receive coverage. Applicants can be inundat ed with a 17-page application, up to 14 forms and up to 20 verifications of those forms from the Texas De partment of Human Services. Lora Gonzales of Austin said it has been a hassle to get her 3-week- old daughter on Medicaid while she was suffering from colic and a cold. “It’s a waste of my time and I think it’s a waste of DHS’s time,” said Gon zales, 20. “The amount of paper-work that they have to go through, that I have to go through is ridiculous.” Rep. Patricia Gray, chairwoman of the House Public Health Com mittee, is spearheading the simpli fication efforts. She wants to cut paperwork to a volume comparable to the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, which has a one-page application and up to five verification forms. To date, CHIP covers more than 200,000 Texas children whose par ents do not qualify for Medicaid but can not afford private insurance. The federal-state program has few of the restrictions of Texas Medicaid. Gray’s package of bills filed Tuesday gets rid of assets tests, which exclude families from Med icaid coverage if they have more than $2,000 in assets other than their home and one vehicle. Also under the bills, applicants would be screened and recertified for the program by telephone or mail, instead of by face-to-face in terviews. Children would be pro vided 12 months of continuous eli gibility, instead of the current month-to-month eligibility which fluctuates with the family’s finan cial situation. If Medicaid does not cover chil dren’s health expenses, taxpayers will end up paying more, said Gray, D- Galveston. “We just shift costs to the coun ties by sending kids to the emergency room for preventative care and we don’t take care of Texas’ most valu able future resource, our children,” Gray said. Texas’ Medicaid system has long been criticized as archaic and intim idating to poor families. The state is currently appealing a federal judge’s ruling that criticized Texas for not do ing enough to help children access Medicaid programs. One-fourth of Texas’ approx imately 20 million people — 1.4 million of them children — lack health insurance. There are 1.5 million children enrolled in Medicaid and about 600,000 who qualify but are not enrolled. With the reforms, lawmakers be lieve they could sign up 480,000 of the 600,000 children, costing the state an additional $400 million i'n the next biennium. Waters faces trial for kidnapping SAN ANTONIO (AP) —-The trial of Madalyn Mur ray O’Hair’s former office manager, who faces charges in the atheist’s disappearance, will proceed despite de fense attorneys’ claims they have not had adequate op portunity to prepare. David Roland Waters, accused of masterminding the disappearance, is scheduled to stand trial Monday on charges he and others kidnapped O’Hair, her son and granddaughter in a plot that investigators believe end ed in their slaying. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks this week denied de fense attorneys’ motion to delay the trial, which could provide a final installment in one of the nation’s most baffling celebrity disappearances. “This case has been set. The continuance will be denied. This case is going to trial Monday,” Sparks said after a hearing in which tempers flared. Waters’ lawyers accused prosecutors of being slow in providing information. “We’re trying to avoid being ambushed at trial,” said Tracy Spoor, who with lawyer Bill Gates represents Wa ters on charges of kidnapping, robbery and extortion. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gerald Carruth denied any foot-dragging. “Nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve bent over backwards to help (Gates) get ready for trial,” said Carruth. The judge found nothing to indicate delay tactics by the government. “There has been plenty of time for a competent lawyer to prepare for this case,” Sparks said. May Graduates The Official Texas A&M Graduation Announcements Order via the web! http://graduation.tamu.edu All orders and payments must be received by March 2, 2001! MSC Box Office M-Fl lam-8pm 979-845-1234 1-888-890-5667 Summer stall POSITIONS Camp r° Z A R K • Come to our Texas A&M University Video Presentation: Thursday, January 25, 2001, 9:00 p.m. MSC 206 A Christian sports and adventure camp for boys and girls ages 7-17, located in the heart of the Ouachita Lake and Mountain Region in Arkansas, is now accepting applications for summer staff positions. 155 Camp Ozark Drive (870) 867- / ll3l Mt. Ida, AR 71957-8309 http://www.campo/arl<.com THE 12TH MAN FOUNDATION IS NOW HIRING FOR POSITIONS IN ITS 2001 TELEMARKETING CAMPAIGN Earn $6.00 per Hour* Plus Bonuses Gain Valuable Work Experience Flexible Scheduling * after the first 30 days To apply, visit the 12th Man Foundation Office at the North End of Kyle Field, or fill out an application online at: www. 12thmanfoundation.com/telemarketing News in Brief-— McConaughey buys Texas Ranch SAN ANGELO (AP) — Actor Matthew McConaughey has gotten back to his West Texas roots. The 31-year-old movie star bought a 1,600-acre ranch com plete with livestock in Irion County for more than $500,000, the San Angelo Standard-Times reported Tuesday. McConaughey’s older brother, who lives in Midland, apparently found the ranch for his sibling. Kay and Coleta Stewart left be hind a double-cab Ford truck, a mo torcycle and a dog named Purina. “They even left all the cows out there. They didn’t hardly take any thing with them,” said Mike Mc Conaughey. “It was the saddest thing I ever saw when he told his dog goodbye.” Word spread quickly that a Hol lywood actor had moved into the area, but even though Mc Conaughey grew up in Uvalde, about 155 miles southeast of his new ranch, many seem unsure who McConaughey is. “I had to lend my video of ‘A Time to Kill’ to five or six people so they could see what he looks like,” said Irion County Tax Assessor Joyce Gray. Help us clean up. Take advantage of our End of the year Clearance Sale 50-75% ojf selected/Uemsy AGGIELAND OUTFITTERS 979-764-4445
