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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2013
EXPRESS Fair being
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STATE
Abortion rights groups deliver petitions to governor
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA —A group of abortion-rights activists on Tuesday delivered about 1,600 signed petitions to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's office urging him not to sign legislation that puts new restrictions on abortion.
Legislators passed a bill late Friday that declares life begins at fertilization, while blocking tax breaks for abortion providers and banning abortions performed solely because of the baby's sex.
Brownback spokeswoman Sara Belfry said the governor hasn't received the bill in his office but is
expected to sign it. The governor opposes abortion and has signed numerous bills restricting abortion since taking office in 2011.
The group presenting the petitions included representatives from the Kansas National Organization for Women, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri, the Mainstream Coalition and Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
The Rev. Joshua Longbottom of Plymouth Congregational Church in Lawrence said legislators and other religious denominations opposed to abortion should "desist" in their efforts to pass laws restricting the rights of those who don't share their views.
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"I believe these women are the best moral agents for making those decisions without government intrusion." Longbottom said. "The more difficult that abortions become the more young women's lives will be put in danger."
In addition to the bans on tax breaks and sex-selection abortions, the bill prohibits abortion providers from being involved in public school sex education classes and spells out in more detail what information doctors must provide to patients seeking abortions.
Haley Miller of the University of
saying it goes further than it actually does, adding that the concerns "put Chicken Little to shame."
Kansas Commission on the Status of Women said she was concerned the legislation would give doctors the right to lie to women about their pregnancy in effort to stop an abortion.
The measure's language that life begins "at fertilization" had some abortion-rights supporters worrying it could be used to legally harass providers. Abortion opponents call it a statement of principle and not an outright ban on terminating pregnancies.
"This is nothing more than an attempt to deceive and scare people about abortion policy which, when the facts are honestly presented, don't scare the public at all," Culp said.
Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said abortion-rights activists were trying to stir opposition to the measure by
She said the effort tried to paint Brownback as being an extremist, even though the measure passed by wide margins in the House and Senate.
NATIONAL
Republican Party leaders alienate prospective voters
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — National Republican leaders made waves recently with a dim view of the party's future if it fails to expand its core support beyond white males and social conservatives. But weeks after GOP Chairman Reince Priebus unveiled the "Growth and Opportunity Project" report, many party players maintain that the problem often is more about flawed messengers saying the wrong things at the wrong times than the policy positions at issue.
The distinction between policy flaws and communication problems is at the crux of the GOP's soul-searching as the Republican National Committee convenes this week in Los Angeles for the first time since the report's release. And it's a discussion that won't end anytime soon as conservatives, moderates and pragmatists struggle for control of the GOP megaphone. The dynamic has been highlighted in the weeks since the chairman's call for outreach, with succession of conservative party figures voicing positions that may alienate the very voters national party leaders want to capture.
Alaska Rep. Don Young was for apologize after referring
to Hispanic migrant workers as "wetbacks." Media titan Donald Trump, who flirted with a presidential run in 2012, warned against compromising with President Baraack Obama on a citizenship path for anyone already in the country illegally, saying they'll just become Democratic voters.
Using social media, Republican National Committee member Dave Agema of Michigan redistributed controversial writings that were harshly critical of gay Americans. Agema dug in after many Michigan Republicans called for his resignation.
Days later, the head of the Georgia state party, Sue Everhart, said that if same-sex marriage were "natural," then gay couples "would have the equipment to have a sexual relationship." She predicted that if the Supreme Court allows federal employee benefits for gay couples, then individuals who are "straight as an arrow" will enter same-sex unions just for financial perks.
Comments like those have some Republicans reeling.
"It's extremely, extremely frustrating," said Gregory Steele, a University of North Carolina senior who leads his state's college Republican organization. "We want the party to have a serious
policy discussion about all of these issues going forward, but it's hard to get to that point with all of these mistakes."
Former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who retired in January as one of the GOP's last elected New England moderates, deplored the "intolerance" that she says has driven a "slow and steady erosion of a strong political base."
"We want the party to have a serious policy discussion about all of these issues going forward."
GREGORY STEELE
University of North Carolina senior
"It's very exclusionary," Snowe said. "For anyone who isn't already a Republican, how are they going to be drawn in right now?"
At Log Cabin Republicans, a national group of gay GOP loyalists, Gregory Angelo said the flaps reinforce the image of an inflexible organization. But he also noted Ohio Sen. Rob Portman's recent embrace of same-sex marriage, and described the party right now as
going through "growing pains."
"We are no longer walking in lock-step on these (social) issues," he said.
White House losing streaks — like the one Republicans are in nationally — aren't new. Democrats lost four out of five presidential elections — all by wide margins
— from 1972 to 1988, before then Arkansas Bill Clinton styled himself as a "New Democrat" to win the presidency in 1992 and 1996.
But current trends are foreboding for Republicans. They've lost the popular vote in five out of the last six presidential elections. In the last two, Obama has won overwhelming majorities of non-white voters and younger voters, while the anchors of Republican support — older white voters — have become an increasingly smaller share of the electorate. Neither Clinton nor Jimmy Carter ever drew popular vote majorities. Obama has twice cleared 51 percent.
Republicans also lost several winnable Senate races in 2012 after conservative nominees made controversial statements about women and abortion.
Top Republicans both acknowledge the damage such comments have caused and remain careful to
defend the party's official positions as they call for a wider tent.
Republican Governors Association Chairman Bobby Jindal memorably called for the GOP to "stop being the stupid party," but the potential 2016 presidential candidate from Louisiana said in the same January speech to the RNC, "We do not need to change what we believe ... our principles are timeless."
Henry Barbour, a Mississippian who helped write the post-election analysis for Priebus, emphasizes that the document shouldn't be read as a call to change the Republican position on abortion, same-sex marriage or immigration.
"In politics, you need to be what you're for," he said.
Both Villere and Barbour said fixing the party starts with softening the way that Republicans talk about hot-button issues and emphasizing economic and fiscal policy.
Louisiana Republican Chairman Roger Villere, a conservative who is also national party vice chairman, said, "To be Democrat-light will not win us elections."
KU1nfo
With Ben McLemore's announcement yesterday, KU has had three freshmen, two sophomores and nine juniors declare early for the NBA draft. All but three of those players have been in the Bill Self era.
POLICE REPORTS
Information based on the Douglas County Sheriff's Office booking recap.
- A 32-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 2400 block of Melrose Place under suspicion of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of controlled substance. A $2,000 bond was paid.
- A 32-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 3600 block of 25th Street under suspicion of possession of a controlled substance. A $2,500 bond was paid.
- A 23-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 1800 block of Missouri under suspicion of operating a vehicle under the influence, possession of drug paraphernalia, transporting an open container and no insurance. A $800 bond was paid.
- A 20-year-old male was arrested Monday on the 200 block of Woodgate Place under suspicion of soliciting without a license. A $100 bond was paid.
Emily Donovan