4A the university daily kansan
opinion
tuesday, November 11, 2003
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I just saw a car drive between Budig and Anschutz Library. What is up with that?
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Why is there a blue light in front of Eaton Hall and yet there is no phone by the blue light? This doesn't make any sense to me at all.
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In all of my years of my watching The Simpsons I would never, ever think of Homer kissing a guy and now I just witnessed it.
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There is no article today in the Kansan about the Jewish celebration on Friday I am really disappointed because there were over 250 members there. I think that this is an important issue and that the Kansan should have covered it.
Do you want to see how good looking our KU student senators are this year?
Go to *hototom.com* and cast your vote.
Hi, I would like to place an order for delivery.
Lab coats are so sexy
I am a freshman at KU and I was just calling to say that school would be a lot easier if I could actually read.
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The student body president is about a 7.5. What do you think?
What kind of person are you?
It is too hot for a penguin to just be walking around.
carino's view
Dan Carino for KRT Campus
face-off
Is Bush's partial-birth abortion ban constitutional?
Decision undermines precedent Ethics outweigh Court legalities
Last week marked the first of many attacks by the Bush administration designed to challenge the reproductive rights of women in the United States. By the passing of a new law banning partial-birth abortion, a woman's right to choose to terminate her pregnancy during the 3rd trimester is now revoked. This law not only opens the door for further restrictions on a woman's fundamental right to have children, but also undermines the constitutional precedents on abortion established by the Supreme Court. Fortunately, abortion-rights advocates have the law on their side.
In the landmark victory for women's rights, Roe v. Wade, the precedent of abortion-rights began. The Supreme Court divided up pregnancy into three trimesters and then ruled accordingly for each one. The Supreme Court opinion states that second and third trimester abortions produce a compelling government interest to protect the life of the mother. The same argument was used to protect the life of the fetus after viability. Accordingly, since the new law against partial-birth abortion denies an exception for abortion procedures completed during the third trimester for women's health reasons it does not allow for the protection of a mother's life.
Supporters of this new law argue that this procedure of dilation and extraction primarily done late in the pregnancy is rarely performed. If only a small amount of these abortions are performed to protect the lives of mothers, then why is there an urgent need to outlaw the procedure? This is the only option available for pregnant women requiring late-term abortions. Anti-abortion advocates subsequently force a choice between the value of the fetus and the
Further precedent was established three years ago in Sternberg v. Cahart, in which the Supreme Court ruled against similar partial-birth abortion legislation passed in Nebraska. In the Supreme Court's published opinion, the judges struck down the ban for reasons that were clearly in accordance with the Roe v. Wade precedent.
Overall, this is just another accomplishment by President Bush in his hot pursuit for a total ban on
Face-Off is a project of the Kansan editorial board. Two editorial board members argue opposing sides of a hot-button issue that affects students at the University of Kansas.
This section is designed to help students understand opposing sides of an issue and make informed decisions.
Readers who have a suggestion for a topic that could be used in Face-Off or wish to join the editorial board, please call Louise Stauffer or Stephen Shupe at 864-4924. E-mail suggestions to opinion@kansan.com.
In Roe v. Wade, Justice Antonin Scalia's opinion of the court argued, "We have a fundamental right to have children based on a historical tradition, so why not have a fundamental right not to." The U.S. government needs to protect the reproductive rights of women, and this means returning their right to have partial-birth abortions.
abortion practices. The language to the new law serves as a perfect example of this theory. The overly broad language used could criminalize several commonly practiced safe abortion procedures. Moreover as a result of the vague language, abortions performed well before fetal viability in even the first trimester, such as dilation and evacuation, would be outlawed.
Amanda Flott for the editorial board.
The issue at hand is the legality and constitutionality of the ban on partial-birth abortion. This is a difficult debate, and one that exists at a much more fundamental level than that of law. Simply put, if either side were to accept the other's view on one core point of contention, it would be forced to admit the constitutionality of the other's view. This all-important point of contention is the humanity of the fetus, also appearing as the when does life begin? question.
The anti-abortion outlook on the humanity of the fetus takes fact and uses it to form opinion in
the traditional, logical manner. From the moment of conception, another life has been created. The zygote is a distinct life form, with a distinct genetic code. As development takes its course, it becomes more apparent that the being is not a "ball of cells" but a human being in the formative stages. For these reasons, and, often with the inclusion of religious beliefs, the anti-abortion movement believes that a fetus is alive and has all the rights of a person. Working from this principle, no law or court decision can legally allow the life of that person to be prematurely truncated.
Conversely, the abortion-rights side allows opinion and circumstance to synthesize fact. That side believes that a woman should not be "forced" to have a
created at the whim of the mother. Talk about empowerment of women. Working from this conclusion, support is fabricated to shore it up. This is where the ball-of-cells argument comes in. Admittedly, in the earliest stages of development, this debate is almost wholly ethereal; it is difficult to convincingly equate a week-old group of cells with a human and therefore religion enters the debate by virtue of necessity. However, biology quickly shifts the impetus to the anti-abortion side. It is here that the abortion-rights position becomes desperate: how to continue to assign non-human status to a being that looks exactly like a baby and has neurological and physiological activity similar to you and I?
In this manner, legality and constitutionality are overtaken by a larger, more ethically based debate. Because of this, one side views the legal argument for or against partial-birth abortion as apples and the other side views it as oranges. A ban on partial birth abortion is a strange duck. It seems to compromise in a bewildering manner by taking aspects of anti-abortion and abortion-rights dogma into account.
If Congress, Bush, and the courts agree that it should be banned, they are in effect admitting the humanity of the fetus and therefore should abolish all abortion. Because this is not on the table, the abortion-rights side is also getting its way. Ideologically, the ban is a failure. However, in terms of the war on the unborn, I'll take any baby Bush will give me.
Matthew Pirotte dissenting.
perspective
Look to friends, professors for insight on spring class schedule
I want to offer a bit of advice to the underclassmen out there who are going through enrollment for the second or third time with many more to come. Seeing that Spring 2004 is my last semester here at the University of Kansas, I thought a little insight into enrollment might make things easier for a few of the new folks. It may seem glaringly obvious to the upperclassmen around, but picking out classes here at the University is, and has been, a royal pain in the ass. In addition to the new problems created by online enrollment and timetables, new students have to jump the old hurdles of advisors, holds, prerequisites and the like. In light of these difficulties, I want to suggest that students rely not only on advisors and class descriptions but on friends and academic peers for enrollment advice.
GUEST COMMENTARY
I'm not saying ask your friends which classes are the easiest. I'm not saying to
Matt Davis opinion@kansan.com
avoid difficult professors or classes that have the words "calculus" or "organic" in them. Instead, I'm suggesting that when scrolling through the timetable, you ask friends which classes and professors they have had and how the courses affected them. Speaking from my somewhat limited, but naturally liberal arts based, perspective, I know there are certain courses and professors I would never advocate and others I would categorically recommend. No doubt some of your friends have the same insight, and the larger the data pool, in this instance, the more accurate the results. Perhaps some personal examples might help here.
Need to fill that fourth-semester language proficiency? Take a closer look at our German department. It's staffed by an unbelievably friendly and passionate group of graduate teaching assistants that are helpful both inside the classroom and out. The professors in the department carry the torch into the upper level classes with all the vigor of their younger staffers, while adding the experience that comes with time.
What about those liberal arts electives? Natural science and social science sound familiar? Out of personal experience, I highly recommend David Frayer in the anthropology department and Kevin Price in the geography department. Both have
the ability to personalize large lecture halls into an individual learning experience while maintaining the integrity of the material and infusing humor into the ubiquitous PowerPoint presentations.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't say something about the infamous Western civilization classes. Since a large portion of students at the University are required to take two semesters, and usually can't do so until at least their sophomore year, I'll fill you in a bit. The lecturer you take will not have as large an impact on your grade as your GTA. Both lecturers I had conveyed mastery of the material, and I have little doubt that this phenomenon stretches across the department. GTAs personalities, workloads and grading criteria, however, are less consistent than Johnny Beck's kicking. I would urge students not only to personally meet your GTA and ask around them, but also to consider
There are plenty of difficulties being a student at the University: tuition hikes, student seating at basketball games and the bad parking situation. I'm here to tell you that enrollment doesn't have to be on that list. Do your preliminary research, find classes that interest you, and then ask around. Friends, classmates, GTAs and other teachers can all help you in your quest for the right fit. University life is stressful and a college education isn't something that comes easy. Ultimately, you're responsible for your own education, so use all the tools available to you in order to make it easier, more suited to your liking and, finally, more fun.
switching sections if there is a potential problem. These days, it's theoretically as easy as the click of a mouse button.
Davis is a Topeka senior in English and German.
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