University Daily Kansan, August 30, 1982
Page 7
Local groups prepared for action Senate embroiled in abortion debates
By KATE DUFFY Staff Reporter
A dreaded but inevitable debate over abortion unfolded earlier this month on the U.S. Senate floor, provoking a filibuster by liberal senators that led to a heated discussion of Congress' right to restrict the Supreme Court.
The fighting began when Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., introduced an anti-abortion amendment to a debt ceiling bill, declaring that life begins at conception. The amendment would also permit the state to grant maternity for abortions and stated that the Supreme Court error when it guaranteed women access to abortion.
The debt ceiling bill, which will increase the amount the government can borrow, must be acted on before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.
By the time the Senate recessed Aug. 19 for the Labor Day holiday, Helmns had reworded his proposal to attract more votes. To keep his fillibuster alive, Sen. Robert Packwood of Oregon had recited to his fellow senators from a book on the history of abortion by Barbara Nielsen and Democrat alike were embroiled in a protest on the amendment's usurpation of the court's power.
And still undecided was the issue that has haunted the Senate's chambers since 1973 — the Supreme Court decision that said the constitutional rights of parents to prevent a pregnancy and that fetuses are not people with constitutional rights.
Mellisa Nees, director of the Kansas National Abortion Rights Action League, the political arm of the pro-choice movement, said she considered the Senate's lack of a vote as a positive sign for pro-choice advocates.
"We are seeing the tide turning."
Ness said. "More and more people are
coming."
And Ness said those people are letting their elected representatives know, too. She said one of Sen. Nancy Kassebaum's aides told her recently that she was planning to mail from constituents at a ratio of 200-1 against abortion restrictions.
On the other side of the issue, Right to Life, Inc. and other anti-abortion groups have used the mail and phone call blitz heavily to persuade legislators to vote for an abortion law. The vice president of the Kansas Right to Life chapter, said she felt that the longer abortion was legal, the harder it would be to defeat it.
"The longer it is around," she said, "the more respectable and commonplace it becomes."
In the past year, the National Abortion Rights Action League, of which KNARAL is an affiliate, has become more political, according to Ness and others. Previously the group had concentrated on education about the abortion issue and had not done as much on a political level.
The group now also faces a possible constitutional amendment sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Ultah, that would grant Congress and the states the power to restrict abortions. Because the amendment would require state approval, the 35 NARAL state affiliates have been recruiting members from all parts of the United States, according to group members. These volunteers have then attended political skills workshops where they learn the nuts and bolts of organizing campaigns.
Ness said the national organization's membership had just tipped the 150,000-strong group up to 173,000.
1958 and 1962, 359 women died annually from illegal abortions. Since its legalization, 19 have died per year from the effects of abortion."
Other possible ramifications, she said, included citizens filing courts against someone who has had an abortion and federal funding denied to hospitals that teach abortion techniques. Some of these techniques, such as dilatation and curettage, commonly called a D and C operation, are also used for basic health maintenance too, Ness said.
"If nobody knows how to do a D and C, then basic health care could suffer," Ness said.
ress said that most Americans agree that abortion should not be restricted. She cited figures from a recent copyrighted article from Family Circle Magazine that showed 61.2 percent of American women felt the decision to have an abortion is up to the individual, and 66 percent opposed a constitutional amendment making it illegal. A surprising 70 percent said they would
--Mary Heiland, Kansas Right to Life
"The longer it is around, the more respectable and commonplace it becomes."
out about 3,500 newsletters, with 400 of these going to Lawrence residents.
NARAL chose Kansas to be one of 17 states to build a strong grass roots political mechanism in case the constitutional amendment outlawing abortion is passed by Congress, Ness said. She said the idea behind this defense will be that the state will always be organized on the state level to defeat the amendment. Thirty-eight states would have to ratify the amendment to make it law.
Although some senators have declared the abortion issue dead for the legislative session, Ness said NARAL would not stop organizing.
Ness said Kansas was chosen because organizers had already built a sizable membership and because of the generally pro-choice legislature.
'My feeling is you lose until you win,' she said.
Ness said she saw the ramifications of restrictive abortion legislation as dangerous and far-reaching.
"Even with the restrictions, abor-
dors would not stop," she said.
"Women should."
change their vote if they disagreed with a candidate's action on abortion.
But members of anti-abortion groups disagree with the poll's reliability and importance. The Rev. Ron Stegal, a member of the Lawrence chapter of the campaign committee, said he thought polls could be manipulated too easily to be reliable.
"Besides, every group has their own polls, with their own results," he said. "Abortion is a many-sided issue; its moral, ethical, scientific and a civil rights issue and not understood very well."
Stegall said anti-abortion groups were taking the stand of the weak
Although the council does not meet regularly any more, it does have a speakers' bureau and does organize demonstrations, like the one commemorating the anniversary of the legalization of abortion. Members can be mobilized to write elected representatives, said Stegall.
"In this case," Stegall said, "the weak are the unborn children and the oppressor are the mothers."
"We are ready to be active," Stegall explained. "We know what we can do to make an impact."
A recent kidnapping in Illinois of a doctor who performs abortions did not surprise Stegall. Although he had never heard of the organization that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping – the Army of God – he was not sure the kidnapping would taint the movement, said Sajon in the future, he expected similar incidents to occur as the abortion issue became more heated.
Recently, Stegall and others contacted more than 50 Lawrence residents through local churches to send letters to the Dole Foundation in response to Sem. Dole and Kassabau.
"If the state doesn't fulfill its duties, the people may practice civil disobedience. The people may be crazy of it and the terrible injustice, it will continue."
Ness disagreed with Stegall's statement that unborn children's civil rights were violated.
"That comes from the viewpoint that a fertilized egg is a human being," she said. "That is an individual decision. Even the science community is not sure. In Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case, the court decided that it did not need to decide that issue."
Both Stegall and Heiland said they would like to see the original Helms bill, including the language about life at the moment of conception, pass as soon as possible. But Heiland's organization is split on the next step it should take to insure passage of some restrictive abortion legislation.
The Kansas chapter of the Right to Life organization sends out its newsletter to 6,000 people throughout Kansas. Heiland said the newsletter was being sent by members to the organization and that the group is "very grassroots oriented."
Heiland said Kansas' elected representatives were a mixed bag when it came to supporting anti-abortion legislation. She agreed with Stegall that polls were misleading, citing a referendum in Michigan in 1972 where residents voted against legalized abortion.
Both anti-abortion groups and NARAL have political action groups that will be contributing money to candidates' campaigns this fall. When the Senate convenes Sept. 8, the first order of business, according to Ness, will be abortion legislation, and both groups will be watching the votes closely.
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