FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2019
4A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
FRIDAY,APRIL 25,2003
TALKTOUS
Kristi Henderson
editor
864-4854 or khenderson@kansan.com
Jenna Goefernfart and Justin Hennining
Jona Gleppert and Justin Hennings
managing editors
884-4854 or jgoeffet@kansan.com and
ihenning@kansan.com
Leah Shaffer
Leah Shaffer readers' representative 864-4810 or ishaffer@kansan.com
Amanda Sears and Lindsay Hanson opinion editors 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
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Malcolm Gibson
Sarah Jantz
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864-4368 or adsales.kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson
general manager and news advron
864-786-3055
malcolmgibson.com
Matt Fisher
Matt Fisher
sales and marketing adviser
864-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Protest shows no sensitivity
Yesterday, as I was walking to class, I was horrified at what I saw sitting on the lawn in front of Stauffer-Flint Hall. It was not the pictures that horrified me, however. It was the complete and utter lack of compassion or consideration on the University's part for women who have had an abortion.
I had an abortion almost a year ago, and it was a miserable choice for me to make. I was in an extremely abusive relationship, both physically and emotionally, and I did not want to put my child in such a situation. I terminated the pregnancy when I was five weeks along. I did not want my child to live in the paralyzing state of fear that I had endured for nearly two years. Rather than subject my child to that, I chose to quietly end my baby's life. I may be able to stand getting choked, punched and thrown into walls, but my baby would have been no match for its father. I cannot protect my own child while I'm getting beaten, and the thought of him hurting my child was too much for me to stand.
Being called a murderer is something I should not have to tolerate anywhere I go, let alone on my own school campus. What right do those self-righteous, so-called activists have to judge me? They should be ashamed of themselves. Don't they know I feel guilty enough without them throwing it in my face? I did what I did not because I wanted to but because I had to. Don't think for a second that a single day goes by when I don't think about what I did. I have to choke back tears every time I see a mother holding a baby. No mother should be forced into my situation, and I wouldn't wish that punishment on my worst enemy. Shame on you. Justice for All, for promoting such a vicious and senseless attack on women. You take for granted the freedom to feel secure in your personal choices. I only wish I could be so lucky.
The writer, who asked that her name be withheld, is a Kansas City sophomore.
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RERUNS OF OUR LIVES
Keep abortion safe, keep abortion legal.
Emily Elmore and Neil Mulka for The University Daily Kansan
Child abuse as gruesome as protest
PERSPECTIVE
It was nearly impossible to miss the two-story high anti-abortion display on campus this week. The graphic billboards took full advantage of the emotional effects of shock value. Supporters of this tactic explain that the public should be aware of the gruesome reality of abortion. If this is an acceptable argument, here is another gruesome reality.
GUEST COMMENTARY
An estimated 903,000 children were victims of abuse or neglect in 2001, according to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System.
About 1,300 of these children died because abuse or neglect. Nearly half of fatal victims were children younger than a year old while 84.5 percent of them were younger than 6, according to the NCANDS report.
An average of 28 children in Missouri and Kansas enter foster care each day. In Kansas, most of these children were removed from their homes because of reports of neglect by their parents or guardians, according to an article published April 13 by The Kansas City Star.
- Seventeen percent of families with children younger than 5 live below the poverty level, according to the 2000 Census. This translates into more than 2 million American families.
The display used graphic photographs of abortions. How would people react to photographs of children marked with
Molly Gise
opinion@kansan.com
In the legal and moral abortion debate, activists and politicians have largely ignored the nation's truly defenseless: the thousands of children who live or have died in the cruelest of situations. They have known fear, shame, abandonment and poverty more intimately than young hearts should.
bruises, cigarette burns and cuts — the small battered bodies that social workers see daily?
What adds to their helplessness is the neglect they receive on behalf of lobbyists, activists and politicians who place their money, attention and votes on unborn children—all in the name of life. If anti-abortion supporters so passionately defend the right to life, they should care as deeply about the quality of life of American children. The fight for life doesn't end at birth for all children, and support for them shouldn't end there either.
April is Child Abuse Prevention
Month. While the month is nearly over, we should take the opportunity as students to learn more about issues, like child abuse prevention and improved foster care, that affect the lives of children.
The Kansas City Star published an indepth article April 13 about the state of foster care in Kansas and Missouri. Both foster systems lack national accreditation. Child welfare officials in both states said they were working to improve foster care but continued budget shortfalls made hiring the necessary amount of workers impossible.
While busloads of students have traveled to Washington, D.C., to march for anti-abortion measures, very few lobby for their legislators to tackle problems of child abuse, substandard foster care and poverty among families, particularly those with young children.
Because most University of Kansas students are not parents, it's easy for us to forget about the plight of children and focus instead on the much simpler issue of abortion. But child abuse victims have faced enough neglect. Activists on both sides of the abortion debate should refocus their efforts on our nation's most defenseless citizens. Their lives may depend on it.
Gise is a Tulsa, Okla., senior in journalism and French.
PERSPECTIVE
Gory pictures distasteful on campus
I have been writing this column in my head now for four years, since I first saw the gruesome and sensationalized photos of aborted fetuses that antiabortion activists adorned our campus with. Now, after a lovely spring day has been ruined by these photos and the offensive comments that accompany them, I have decided to exercise my First Amendment right.
GUEST COMMENTARY
I have no statistic as to how many young women on this campus have had abortions, but I am willing to bet that it is in the hundreds or perhaps even the thousands. Think for a minute the effect these billboards have had on these women.
Mandy Schick opinion@kansan.com
The purpose of this column is not to get into some sort of argument over semantics, to debate the definition of the term "baby" or "life" or to debate the morality of abortion. I only wish to defend the group of people on this campus who have been arguably the most devastated by these anti-abortion demonstrations: women who have had abortions.
The abortion protesters I spoke with this week had one horrible misconception. They assume that women who have had abortions had some sort of malice towards the pregnancy they terminated. This is pure ignorance. I have several friends who have had abortions. It was not by any means an easy decision to make. These women had to make an excruciating choice that will
affect them for the rest of their lives. That's not to say that they regret the choice they made; however, having an abortion was a frightening ordeal for them, one they surely do not wish to relive while attempting to cross the campus so they may receive an education.
Fact: Abortion is legal in the state of Kansas. Fact: The University of Kansas is a public university. Is it a forum for people to enact moral judgment on someone who did something entirely within the realm of the law? Since when has it been appropriate to express glaring public disdain toward someone for making a choice she had every legal right to make? What is the purpose of these protesters? Is it their goal to make those who have had abortions feel guilty by posting words such as "kill" and "genocide"? (Whoever first equated this term with abortion has surely never opened a dictionary.) They assured me that their only aim was to
put an end to abortion. Why must they accuse hundreds of young women of murder while trying to make a point?
We all have the right to make moral judgments. We all have the right to decide whether a woman who has had an abortion is a murderer. These abortion protesters have a right to their platform. However, just because a woman has had an abortion does not mean she has to endure this. This is a state school. At a religious institution it might be acceptable to post billboards condemning peoples' actions; but this university is not such an institution. Maybe this wasn't the intent of these protesters; however, it disgusts me that any one young woman on this campus has to tolerate such blatant disdain of a choice she legally made.
I do not expect these protesters to realize my point. After having several discussions with them during which they uttered unconvincing mantras, I realized that arguing with them was useless. My question is, which university official thought it appropriate that young women on this campus be harassed for exercising their legal right? I am horrified that our beautiful campus has been polluted with these horrific displays, and I am dumbfounded that it is being permitted.
Schick is a graduate student in French literature.
Free forAll
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers 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.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com
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Don't you think the middle part of a pickle is so much better than the crunchy part?
--i'd just like to thank the abortion people for the best dead baby jokes ever!
If the abortion display is what really happens, then we all need to know it, shocking or not. There shouldn't be anything done behind closed doors that cannot be brought into the light.
--i'd just like to thank the abortion people for the best dead baby jokes ever!
I was calling about the Chi Omega fountain, Gammi Phi has their formal on Friday night, and Chi Omega has their formal on Saturday night, and we would all just really love it if the fountain was on so we could take pictures. So, yeah. North Carolina sucks.
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Those 42-cent McDonald's hamburgers
that 42-cent McDonald's hamburgers
that 42-cent McDonald's hamburgers
Hey pro-choice people, those pictures on those boards are what you're advocating, and if you're disturbed by those pictures, then why are you advocating it?
I am so sick and tired of seeing all the PDA around this campus. This may sound childish, but if you're going to do that, get a room.
i'd just like to thank the abortion people for the best dead baby jokes ever!
--i'd just like to thank the abortion people for the best dead baby jokes ever!
i'd just like to thank the abortion people for the best dead baby jokes ever!
I have an idea for the Kansar's next headline. Mimes: The Silent Performers.
A chicken and an egg are lying in bed. The chicken is smoking a cigarette with a satisfied smile on his face. The egg is frowning and looking very frustrated. The egg mutters to no one in particular, "Well, I guess we've answered that question."
To the girl who was feeding her boyfriend his beoggers at Chipotle, you are a freak and that is just nasty.
So why does the KU First ad, which says that KU has the only real dinosaur in Kansas, show the head, which is the only plastic part of the dinosaur? Why don't they show some of the real part?
I would just like to say that Justice for All sucks.
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Is anyone else concerned that my roommate has a rooster on her bed, and its name is Dan Bob?
Life is a circus. Don't be the clown.
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It's raining, my car's broken down, my toes are cold, my heat doesn't work, and the tow truck's not going to be here for an hour.
Okay, I was just washing the dishes and I inadvertently started a wet T-shirt contest with myself. I win!
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We just took e vote. It's official. North Dakota is the most obscure state.
Hey, anti-abortion people, why did it not bother you to display a dead fetus if you have so much respect for life?
It's Thursday and I'm looking in the Jayplay, and there's no sex column. How can I masturbate if there's no sex column?
George Bush needs to repair our country before he repairs Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, and North Korea.
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The eyeglasses that were left at the Wescoe polling site on April 10 are still in the Office of the Dean of Students waiting to be picked up. 133 Strong Hall
I was raped when I was 12 and had an abortion, so I'd just like to thank Justice for All for equating me with Hitler.
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