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THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 17.2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
LAYIN' DOWN THE LAWSON
Women deserve choice
The purpose of the reproductive rights movement is to ensure that women of all races, ethnicities, religions and economic backgrounds have the same access to birth control methods.
When a woman chooses to have an abortion, it "does not mean that [she] cannot also be a faithful and morally affirmative response to what a woman perceives to be holy and just," says Reverend Dr. Rebecca Edmiston-Lange, co-minister of Emerson Unitarian Church.
According to the Bureau of Labor statistics in 2001, women who had gone to college and received a bachelor's degree made $37,000 per year, but women who had not graduated from high school made a little less than $16,000 per year (compared to men's $49,000 and $21,000 per year, respectively).
Minister John M. Swomley, co-author of Catholic Power vs. American Freedom, OLIC says, "The right to life and the sacredness of life mean that there should be no absolute or unbreakable rules that take precedence over the lives of existing human persons."
According the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which is an organization of clergy and lay leaders from different religions who formed the coalition to protect reproductive rights, many religions believe that reproductive freedom is intrinsically tied to religious liberty.
PAGE 5A
In order to guarantee that women continue to support themselves economically, women need to have educational opportunities.
In order to make sure that they get a good education and that they are able to support the children they have, they must have control of when and how many children they have.
Women with no control over their reproduction are less likely to attend college.
To imply that all reproductive rights activists think in terms of population control and eugenics is just plain offensive.
Margaret Sanger began her
JOY LAWSON
opinion@kansan.com
reproductive rights campaign because she witnessed women who lived in disparity die because of a lack of family planning information and devices.
We have not come so far today to believe that all women have the same life experiences.Women want to be able to be responsible for and to control our own reproductive systems.
Sanger knew that women of the upper and middle classes could afford the diaphragms that would prevent pregnancy. In order to survive economically, women of the working-class needed ways to control birth.
We have not come so far today to believe that all women have the same life experiences. Women want to be able to be responsible for and to control our own reproductive systems.
Any reference to "Sanger-esque eugenics" is unfounded, and to imply that pro-choice advocates would use such racist or classist tactics is an insult to the movement.
Anti-choice groups back abstinence-only programs that prevent our youth from learning valuable prevention methods.
They support services that coerce women to carry the pregnancy to term and then leave her to deal with the after-affects on her own.
They even support sterilization methods as a better solution than abortion, taking away the ability for a woman to choose to have a child later
One woman dies every seven-and-a-half minutes from an illegal abortion, according to Ipas.org, the Web site for Ipsa, which is an international organization that protects women's reproductive rights.
in life.
World Health Organization defines illegal abortion as "a procedure for terminating an unwanted pregnancy either by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment lacking the minimal medical standards or both."
According to an article in Family Planning Perspectives, in the '50s and '60s approximately 160 to 260 women died per year from illegal abortions. If we look at a modern fact sheet distributed by Ipas, illegal abortions cause the deaths of 70,000 women a year.
If we let the movement die, we will be regressing back to 50 years ago.
As long as abortions are legal, they are the safest surgical procedure available today.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, only one woman in 100,000 dies from a surgical abortion compared to the 7.5 women in 100,000 who die from carrying the pregnancy to term.
According to the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Freedom, reproductive decisions should be free of governmental intrusion.
The assertion that faith-based organizations inherently believe that individual rights come from God disregards the very notion of religious freedom.
Whether we come from a God or we are descendents of "primordial scum," our human dignity comes from the ability to make choices for ourselves and the capability to formulate our own standards of values and morals.
Without our right to choose to control our own reproductive systems, what kind of rights do we ever have? What kind of life are we allowed to lead?
Lawson is an Olathe senior in women's studies
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Abortion smacks of genocide
David's second article written in support of "population control" and selective human extermination is pretty disturbing, but after examining the backward logic behind his endorsement, we find that his grasp on problem solving proves even more disturbing.
from hunger world wide, but their hunger is not due to lack of resources, rather, it's due to the oppressive and corrupt governments that manipulate supplies in the name of tyranny. The UN itself recognizes this fact and has been known to suspend operations (see Zimbabwe, 2002) in protest of "misuse of resources for political end."
In response to David Armstrong's recent article attempting to critique my stance on abortion, I would like to thank Armstrong for enlightening us all about his real stance on what he admits could very well be called "mass murder."
life begins with the recognition of the value of life. This is a basic fact that's acknowledgment serves as the correct place to begin a debate on our natural and God-given rights and as a tool for correctly solving world problems. As Americans we should take the lead in affirming these values.
Refusal to recognize the root source of this problem, and focusing on "unwanted children" as the "true cause," only serves to increase hunger, poverty and suffering worldwide.
Luckily, with these being the best arguments liberals can muster, coupled with recent nominations to the Supreme Court, the future of this issue and our nation looks bright.
Creating a better quality of
According to the Global Policy Forum, millions suffer
Dennis Chanay Paola sophomore
TALK TO US
Joshua Bickel, managing editor 864-4854 or jbickel@kansan.com
Jonathan Kealing, managing editor 864-4854 or jkealing@kansan.com
Austin Caster, editor
864-4854 or acaster@kansan.com
Sarah Connelly, business manager
864-4014 or adddirector@kansan.com
Matthew Sevclk, opinion editor
864-4924 or msevclk@kansan.com
SUBMISSIONS
John Morgan, sales director
964-4462 or adddirector@kansan.com
asked for articles the night before they were printed, the copy editors wouldn't have time to fact-check them.
Ringey also charges that the Kansan doesn't follow The Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics regarding diversity. If he really thinks that is true, he should look back to earlier this month when we printed a front-page story above the fold about the "gay" fine by me" T-shirts or when we changed our style guide to accommodate those who were offended by the word "queer."
Maybe Ringey's partner was too hasty to get upset. I don't know whether he called the Free for All or if he did talk to a staff member. More than 50 people work on staff, and newsrooms got lots of calls.
I print my e-mail address on the opinion page, and though sometimes I get 500 a day, I read all of the ones that aren't SPAM.
And those who were upset about the article could have visited the office or come to an editorial board meeting. They must know where the newsroom is, after all, they found it when they did the graffiti.
Malcim Gilson, general manager, news
864-7667 or mqlbson at kansan.com
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing
864-7666 or jweaver@kansan.com
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser
864-7266 or jweaver@kansan.com
GUEST COLUMN GUIDELINES
Maximum Length: 650 word limit
Include: Author's name; class, home-
town (student); position (faculty
member); phone number (will not be
published)
The Kansan welcomes letters to the editors and guest columns submitted by students, faculty and alumni.
The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length, or reject all submissions.
For any questions, call Austin Caster at 864-4810 or e-mail opinion@kansan. com.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Also: The Kansan will not print guest columns that attack another columnist.
Maximum Length: 200 word limit
Include: Author's name and telephone number; class, hometown (student); position (faculty member); phone number (will not be published)
General questions should be directed to the editor at editor@kansan.com.
♦ Caster is a Shawnee senior in journalism. He is Kansan editor-in-chief
LETTER GUIDELINES
So, I apologize to those of you who were offended, and I wish there was a way to prove that the mistake was unintentional. But before anyone else calls the staff Uncle Tom in shoe polish on the office windows, I'd like to let the student body know about how the Kansan works.
Elle Ford, Yanting Wang, Joel Simone, D hoyi, Annie Wetmel, Nathan Pathan, M Gianninie, Joah Goatting, Garlic Garnick, Travis Brown, Julian Portile, David Archer
SUBMIT TO
Kansan newsroom
111 Stauffer-Flint Hall
143 Jawayh Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 60045
(785) 844-8190 opinion@kansan.com
as the purple fliers distributed throughout campus accused. It's impossible to compile a list of the sexual orientation of every student on campus. If the couple asked to be referred to as life partners, and we refused intentionally, that would be different.
Though unintentional, errors promptly corrected
In this letter, Ringey said that the Kansan might not have run his partner's letter to the editor had someone not graffitied the office. The newspaper business is so fast-paced, however, that the content for the opinion page has to be selected in advance. Columnists know two weeks in advance when their columns will run, and they have to file three days in advance. If we
You might think it's easy to find errors in The University Daily Kansan. I find them every day.
Because our newsroom is a student-run learning environment, it's like putting our homework in front of 20,000 people, and it's hard to get 100 percent on every assignment. Sometimes we miss a comma, sometimes we use "they" when we should be writing "it," but when it comes to factual errors, the staff takes immediate action.
▼ AUSTIN, BABY, YEAH!
After reading Sean Ringey's letter to the editor, I need to clear up the factual errors for readers who have never worked in a newsroom.
Ringey charged that the Kansan ignored complaints from the LGBT community. For those of you who didn't read the Jaylapp article about toilet-training a cat, the reporter misidentified a gay couple as roommates. We all agree that was a mistake, but it was one that wasn't easy to prevent.
Though David Ta was my student when I was a teaching assistant for Journalism 101, and I've known Ryan Joy for years, the staff members who copy edited the story didn't know the couple's sexual orientation. It was not intentionally left out to skew reality and show bias against the LGBT community
AUSTIN CASTER
editor@kansan.com
Free All for
Call 864-0500
Free for All calls have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded. Instant message the Free for All at *ukdfreeoral*.
When God said, "Let there be light," Chuck Norris said "Say please."
You guys write an article that takes two minutes to read on Phill Kline, but if Howard Dean or Bill Clinton comes to town, there would probably be a special section.
I saw a kid get hit by a car yesterday, so I excitedly paged through the UDK to find out what happened, but yet nothing. Way to cover the news!
What a day! It's freezing cold outside, and I just about got ran over by a fat kid on a blue moped!
Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena. Que tu cuerpo es pa³ darle alegria y cosa buena. Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena. Heeeeey Macarena!
To the stupid football player in my class: 1. You are not funny. 2. Stop talking 3. Why are you in college? By the way, I felt safe saying this in the Free For All, because I am pretty sure you can't read.
Dude, there is nothing wrong with skipping class for video games.
To the guy watching the stoners behind Lewis Hall: It is 2:10 in the afternoon. Stop watching stoners and go to class.
Free For All, you make me proud to be an alum.
Omar: I love you with all my heart.
Vin Diesel sculpted the Liberty Bell with his bare hands and deliberately cracked it to symbolize the fracturing of his soul.
Someone asked me if I licked my iPod and I replied, "I'm in love."
Look out! The freshman can't figure out the camping system and therefore dislike it!
If there are any girls out there who play Halo, I bet I can beat you. By beat you I mean invite you over to play Halo and then reveal that I have no Xbox. Then I break out the boxed wine and we make out.
To Michael Phillips: It was Limas Sweed that caught the first touchdown for Texas, not Quan Cosby.
I saw B-Rush on campus today and he totally winked at me. I am pretty sure he wants to father my children.
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Uh, look, I knew this might be difficult, so I stopped off at the liquor store and got a couple of magazines that I think will explain everything.
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When Chuck Norris sends in his taxes, he sends blank forms and includes only a picture of himself, crouched and ready to attack. Chuck Norris has not had to pay taxes to this day.
Vin Diesel is the only person who sounds what he thinks he sounds like on a tape recording.
I keep searching and searching but I can't find the bottom of my whiskey bottle yet.
To the guys that got in a wreck on Harrison Street by 31st Street and went to the hospital: I hope you guys aren't seriously injured. Get better.
I'm here at the KU game against Pitt State and I'm wondering why people are wearing "Muck Fizzou" shirts when we're not even playing Missouri.
The Kansan falsely reported that there were only 75 people in attendance for Senator Joe Biden, when there were actually 300.
I transferred here from Pitt State, and I got to say, we just beat us.
Julian Wright would look a lot cooler if he grew a big bushy beard.
I'm watching the season finale of Laguna and Steven is wearing jean shorts.
Hey, Bill, let Wright run the one guard.
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Mizzou sucks! Ha ha!
K-10 kind of looks like a white snake after the basketball game gets out
Josh Goetting makes no sense in claiming that Sarah Stacy's not liberated because she uses a metaphor in her writing.
I heard a rumor that Steven Seagal was challenging Chuck Norris to a duel.
Box of Captain Crunch? $3. Bag of Cheez-Its? $3.
Can of peanuts? $2. Getting high with your friends
and making a crazy snack mix and then watching
Laguna Beach on TiVo? Priceless!
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