file: /pub/resources/text/ProLife.News/1993: PLN-0303.TXT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Life Communications - Volume 3, No. 3 February, 1993 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This newsletter is intended to provide articles and news information to those interested in Pro-Life Issues. All submissions should be sent to the editor, Steve (frezza@ee.pitt.edu). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) HOPE V. PERALES: A COLLUSIVE LAWSUIT? The New York State Court of Appeals is currently batting around a case in which a lower court opinion held that the New York State Constitution guarantees a right to abortion. Intervention by other parties seems necessary, because The plaintiffs are clearly pro-abortion: Planned Parenthood - and New York State, represented by the NYS Attorney General Bob Abrams (the pro-abortion candidate who just lost in a bid for Al D'Amato's Senate seat). This makes the case something of a collusive lawsuit, and a lawyer working for the Legal Center for the Defense of Life in New York is trying to intervene in this case. (Some of us here at Columbia Law School are helping him out.) The Case: Remember the Hyde Amendment? The federal law which prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions? (except in certain circumstances, such as rape, incest, etc.) As a result, Medicaid, which is state administered but federally funded, does not pay for abortions. The New York State legislature has chosen to pay for any abortions not paid for by Medicaid. To be eligible for Medicaid, an individual's income must be less than the federal poverty line. Several years ago, the Prenatal Care Assistance Program (PCAP) was established on the federal level. It provided money for women with incomes between 100% and 185% of the poverty line for prenatal care. As with Medicaid, the states administer the program and apply to the federal government for reimbursement. New York State did not choose to supplement PCAP as it did with Medicaid, however, and therefore does not (currently) pay for the abortions of women whose income is over the federal poverty line. Enter Hope v. Perales: Since the NY legislature did not choose to supplement PCAP, New York State was therefore sued by several women, Planned Parenthood, and a number of abortion clinics. They claimed that this failure to fund abortions was discrimination against women seeking abortions and violated several provisions of the New York State Constitution. The trouble is that the defendant is also pro-abortion: New York State is represented by their pro-abortion Attorney General Bob Abrams. Naturally, both sides have granted that the New York Constitution includes a right to an abortion, despite the fact that no previous case has found that right anywhere but in Roe v. Wade (which of course found it in the Federal Constitution--where exactly no one is quite sure of). Two prolife groups have tried to intervene in the case, a group of Catholic hospitals, and the Legal Center for the Defense of Life, but have not been allowed to. The trial judge who disallowed their intervention issued a decision in the case in April of 1991. She basically gave Planned Parenthood all it wanted: She found a right to an abortion in the New York State Constitution (very important in those pre-Casey days when everyone expected Roe v. Wade to be overturned), she held that funding pre-natal care and not abortion violated the N.Y. Constitution, and so she "fixed" the statute by requiring the state to fund abortion as well! Basically, her opinion was awful, in terms of her legal reasoning as well as the result she arrived at. Well, as you might expect, the case was appealed. The oral arguments were held in March of 1992, and no decision has come on the appeal to the Appellate Division. Given the importance of the case, it will probably be appealed to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, once it's decided. Unfortunately,I don't know why it is taking this long. The Legal Center for the Defense of Life has tried to intervene at this level as well, and one of its attorneys was allowed to make oral arguments, so at least this level of the court system heard the pro-life side. A few of us at Columbia Law School have been briefed on the case and we're doing some research in preparation for the next step in the case. (I'm also trying to write a student article for the Law Review about one of the trial judge's more egregious errors.) - Andy O'Meara ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) GENDER CONFLICT OF INTEREST AMONG TEENS It seems that sociologists are beginning to uncover a conflict of interest between men and women in the abortion debate. It seems that young men especially, are beginning to feel that fathers should have some say in the destruction of their children. These observations were made public in a recent analysis of a nation-wide sociological study of teenagers. This revelation was published in a study by William Marsiglio and Constance Shehan, both University of Florida Sociologists. The study uses data from the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males which assessed the abortion attitudes of 1,880 single males aged 15 to 19 in a range of scenarios. The researchers presented their findings at the National Council on Family Relations meeting held on the January 4 in Orlando, Florida. Sixty percent of teenage males in the nationwide survey say it is not all right for a woman to get an abortion if her male partner objects, said Marsiglio. ``Our study suggests that the majority of young men feel they have important interests in the resolution of a pregnancy and deserve to be consulted, perhaps to be given veto power over this procedure,'' he said and added that ``Our results underscore the possibility that a 'gender conflict of interest' over abortion may exist.'' Only lightly more than one third (37 percent) of adolescent males in the study said that abortion is acceptable for any reason. Young males are particularly accepting of a woman terminating her pregnancy if she has been raped or the pregnancy seriously endangers her health. Nearly 90 percent of the teenage males surveyed said that abortion is all right if the pregnancy endangers the mother's [physical?] health and 86 percent supported it if the pregnancy resulted from rape. On the other hand, two-thirds of the youths disapproved when the abortion was motivated by the male partner's refusal to support the child and 60 percent disapproved when the woman decided to terminate the pregnancy because she could not afford to take care of the child. ``These results are important because very little is known about adolescents' attitudes, even though teenagers are involved in a significant number of un- intended pregnancies and abortion decisions each year,'' Shehan said. She also commented that ``Men are also in a position to influence their partner's decision about abortion, even though they have few, if any, legal rights to do so.'' Shehan overstated the legal rights of fathers, for according to the recent Supreme Court "Casey" ruling, the States have no right to require that even husbands even be informed that their wife is aborting their child. Shehan cautioned against statistically comparing the results of the UF study with studies on adults because the wording of the questions was slightly different. In contrast to other research, the UF study also found little evidence that abortion attitudes varied by race after controlling for other social background factors. Marsiglio added that young men with more liberal attitudes toward premarital sex and whose parents are better educated were more likely to condone an abortion even if her partner objects, and that religious fundamentalists [I wonder how they got that on the survey form?] and those who placed more importance on religion were more likely to reject the idea of a woman having an abortion over her partner's objections. ``The personal and political struggles associated with this conflict are likely to become even more volatile if women's access to abortion is curtailed and men's rights are expanded,'' Marsiglio warned. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) "IT'S A CHILD, STUPID" During the recent presidential election campaign Clinton's staff had a sign in their office, "It's the economy, stupid." One sign at the March for Life read: "It's a child, stupid." Friday, January 22, 1993 was the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 decisions that legalized abortion on demand for the full nine months of pregnancy. I participated in the March for Life that is held every year on that date that will live in infamy. It was larger than previous Marches. March organizers estimated 250,000. The media reported 75,000, but the media consistently under-reports the size of pro-life marches. I went to the first March in 1974 by chartered bus. When the bus arrived it was given a sequential number that was posted in window so we could find our bus easily after the March. It was years ago, so I no longer remember the exact numbers, but dividing the highest number I saw into the reported attendance indicated that each of those large buses about 6 to 8 passengers. Of course, many Washington area residents went to the March by Metro or city bus. It is interesting that Britain has a press council that has the power to force newspapers to print corrections of erroneous stories. Some years ago the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children held a large demonstration in London. _The Guardian_, a leading British paper, so woefully under-reported the attendance that the press council required it to print a front page correction. The United States has no such council. It would be interesting to see what such a council would say about the numbers reported for this march, or indeed, any of the large public demonstrations against abortion. People from Human Life International (P.O. Box 2024, Baltimore, MD 21297-0330) distributed signs with the words "FREEDOM OF CHOICE???" and a photograph of the top half of the head of an aborted baby held in forceps. It had been found in a trash bag outside an abortion mill in Houston in 1987, along with a lot of other pieces of dead babies. I carried one of those signs. Unfortunately the signs were seen primarily by people in the March. There were very few bystanders watching the March. Therefore, when I reached the end and walked to the hotel where I was staying that night I continued to display the sign so ordinary people could see it. While I was crossing a street two men in their twenties were crossing the other way. When one of them craned his neck to see what I was carrying I shifted the angle so they could see the full picture. I then confirmed that it was indeed a piece of a baby's head and briefly gave the background. The result was a shocked, "My God." I think they learned something about the reality of the abortion `choice' with regards to the humanity of the one being aborted. HLI also sells copies of the picture in various sizes from postcard to placard size for people who want to display or distribute them. There was a small meeting of pro-lifers on the net who attended the March and stayed over Friday night. The intrepid souls that did show up were Richard Chonak, Jim Haupt, Andy Sicree, Steve Frezza and myself. Saturday I attended a March for Life convention. One interesting comment came from a speaker who mentioned that Admiral Yamamoto said that Japan had expected that the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor would administer a crushing blow; instead it awoke a sleeping giant that crushed them. This was said in connection with the fact that the election of pro-abortion Bill Clinton was followed by the largest March for Life yet. His election may be a setback, but ultimately we will win. - Marty Helgesen [Remember that the sign might have read "It's the economy, stupid," but we will remember what Clinton's first executive orders in office were, and they had nothing to do with the economy: Steps to legalize importation of the abortofacient RU-486, removal of the ban on federal funding for Fetal Tissue research, dropping of title X restrictions, etc..] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) UPCOMMING EVENTS [ANNOUNCEMENTS] March 14-26: COLLEGIANS ACTIVATED TO LIBERATE LIFE CONFERENCE "Agape in Action", at the University of Notre Dame, IN. Nearly two weeks of intense college pro-life activities organized by CALL, a national college pro-life activist organization. Speakers to include Joan Andrews-Bell and Joe Scheidler. Write to CALL, 1605 Monroe St., Suite 107, Madison, WI 53711, (608) 238-5262, FAX (608) 238-4969. March 15: DEADLINE FOR ENGALITCHEFF PRIZE NOMINATIONS. The $10,000 Engalitcheff Prize is given to a professor who stands up to the "political correctness" and intolerance prevailing on most campuses and stands by con- servative students when they are attacked. (This could be a professor who defends and helps college pro-lifers on his or her campus when they are reviled by pro-aborts on campus, in the administration, or in the campus media.) For more info write: Engalitcheff Prize, Young America's Foundation, 110 Elden St., Herndon, VA 22070, (703) 318-9608, FAX (703) 318-9122. March 26-28: SPRING '93 COLLEGE PRO-LIFE CONVENTION, at Bryn Mawr College, near Philadelphia, PA. The Intercollegiate Federation for Life, the nation's oldest coalition of college pro-life groups, holds its 21st semiannual College Pro-Life Convention. Hear nationally-known speakers and college speakers, at- tend college-oriented workshops, meet new friends and have a great time at our Saturday evening party. Low ($16) registration fee includes all meals, mate- rials and housing. For more info write to IFL, P.O. Box 10664, State College, PA 16805 (814) 466-7460, or contact Spring Convention Coordinator, Sydney Shrader, at 900 W. Marshall St.-Rear, Norristown, PA 19401, (215) 275-5109. June 4-6: UNIVERSITY FACULTY FOR LIFE 1993 CONVENTION, Yale University, New Haven, CT. UFL is a national group of pro-life college professors. If in- terested in joining UFL (membership $25) or attending their Convention contact UFL, Box 2273, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, (202) 687-4493. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) READER QUESTIONS A question for any of your readers. I once heard a story that the candidate running against Lincoln on the pro-slavery platform gave a speech that was based on the idea that it is impossible to tell if a black person is a human being. He went on to say that since this is un-provable, the issue of owning slaves should be left entirely up to the slave owner, and not legislated by the state. (does the argument sound familiar ?!?) - Jeffrey Halvorsen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote of the Month: "The issue of abortion is not a battle between contradictory sympathies for mother and child, though some would like to obscre things by making it appear so. The issue of abortion is really about disposable lives. It is about children thrown away to provide an illusion of escape for troubled women, and women thrown away to disguise the erosion of society. All of this is done under the rhetoric of dignity and freedom." -Jeff Ostrander, founding director of the Pregnancy Resource Center in Grand Rapids Michigan. +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Credits: | | 2 - Based on a 6 Jan, 1993 UPI Article. Many thanks to Allan Cargille. | | 4 - from the College Pro-Life Information Network (InfoNet) newsletter, | | to join contact Andy Sicree at Box 759, Boalsburg, PA 16827 | |QOM- from the booklet "From the Field, words of inspiriation and encourage- | | ment for volunteers in the pro-life movement." L. Perry, C. Philkill, | | Eds. Greater Baltimore Crisis Pregnancy Center, Inc., 12 East 21st St.,| | Baltimore, MD 21218 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Anyone desiring information on specific prolife groups, literature, tapes, or help with problems is encouraged to contact the editor.