PAGE 6A
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
CAMPUS
Roe v. Wade attorney urges women to lead
HANNAH BARLING
editor@kansan.com
Almost 40 years ago, Sarah Weddington won the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in states across the country.
Tuesday night, she spoke to an audience at Woodruff Auditorium about women's rights and leadership.
Weddington was invited to speak by Hall Center for Humanities.
Kansas State Representative Barbara Ballard helped organize the event and said controversies over reproductive rights and contraceptives — ongoing in some state legislatures—made this week an opportunity time to hear Weddington's story.
"She won one of the most contentious court cases in this country's history." Ballard said.
Weddington was only 26 years old when she became a lead attorney in the Roe v. Wade lawsuit, which invalidated all state laws limiting women's access to abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy. Before that 1973 Supreme Court ruling, abortion was limited in many states and entirely illegal in others.
"I was the only person willing to do the case for free, so I did it," Weddington said.
Weddington said she learned something about women's struggle for equality in college, but it wasn't new to her. As a student at McMurray University, in Abilene, Texas, Weddington was discouraged from running for class president. She said a male administrator at the university told her that men were presidents and women were secretaries.
She said the administrator also discouraged her from going to law school, saying that no woman
from McMurray had ever gone to law school because it would be too difficult to succeed there.
Weddington, of course, did go to law school. She became one of five women in her class at the University of Texas.
"After he told me it was too tough, that was the moment I decided I was going," Weddington said.
Victor Bailey, director of the Hall Center, said Weddington blazed a path for women and provided a role model for female leaders in America. He said that, even today, women often are overlooked for top leadership positions even when they have essential talents and skills.
"There were so many different things that women could not do when I was young. I just keep trying to push back barriers so women have a bigger arena in life," she said.
Weddington said prospects for women have improved since her college days.
Weddington said she speaks at venues like the University because she wants young women to know that they, too, can make a difference and better the future of the nation. "Part of leadership and preparing for leadership is practice. There were a lot of opportunities that happened because I was willing to take a risk," Weddington said.
"Leadership is the willingness and ability to leave your thumb print."
Weddington left her thumb print and urges young women to leave theirs.
"Some leaders are born wom en," she said.
Edited by Ian Cummings
TYLER ROSTE/KANSAN
Sarah Weddington, the woman most notably known for representing Jane Roe, whose real name was Norma McCorvey, in the famous Roe v. Wade case of 1973, spoke last night in Woodruff auditorium at the Union.The case ruling supported women's reproductive rights, overturning state laws against abortion across the country.
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FOOD INDUSTRY
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. — Governors of three states donned coats, hair nets and goggles to tour a main production plant for "pink slime" Thursday, hoping to persuade grossed-out consumers and grocery stores to accept the processed beef trimmings are as safe as the industry insists.
Midwest's governors defend pink slime
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Three governors and two lieutenant governors spent about a half-hour touring Beef Products Inc's plant to show their support for the company and the thousands of jobs it creates in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.
Beef Products, the main producer of the cheap lean beef made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts, has drawn extra scrutiny because of concerns about the ammonium hydroxide it treats meat with to slightly change the acidity of the beef and kill bacteria. The company suspended operations at plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa this week, affecting 650 jobs, but it defends its product as safe.
"It's beef, but it's leaner beef, which is better for you," Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said after watching a presentation of how the textured beef product is made and taking a walking tour of the plant.
While the official name is lean finely textured beef, critics dub it "pink slime" and say it's an unappetizing example of industrialized food production. That term was coined by a federal microbiologist who was grossed out by it, but the product meets federal food safety standards and has been used for years.
The politicians who toured the plant — Branstad, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy and South Dakota Lt. Gov. Matt Michels
— all agree with the industry view that pink slime has been unfairly maligned and mislabeled and issued a joint statement earlier saying the product is safe.