OPINION & EDITORIAL
Herald highlights dangers of coercion but not illegal abortion
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by Letters to the Editor
Thursday, October 6, 2005
Kudos to Charles Parsons for his op-ed piece on Oct. 4 exposing the dangers that a new trend of campus thought control poses for intellectual freedom across the land. The practice of "disposition theory" at Washington State is but the latest fad on the nation's campuses to indoctrinate students into thinking "the correct way" about "social justice" and related subjects. Though the question of "social justice" is incredibly complex and controversial, "disposition" and "social justice" programs at universities have invariably been one-sided and ideological in content and intent. Consequently, they are decidedly inconsistent with the proper mission of any university worth its salt: to pursue the truth through freedom and diversity of thought. Unfortunately, Washington State is not the only campus in which faculty and students have been persecuted for daring to disagree with the orthodoxy of belief fostered by such programs. I note that the previous dean of students at Wisconsin was an advocate of "social justice" theory and similar programs. Let us hope that our great university is not the next in line to succumb.
Donald Downs
Professor of Political Science, Law, and Journalism
President, Committee for Academic Freedom and Rights
Author, "Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus".
Jordan Smith's column "Former Abortion Doctor to Speak in Grainger Hall Wednesday" misses the central point in the abortion rights debate: that women will have abortions whether they are legal or not.
Ms. Smith claims that approximately 3,561 abortions are performed daily in America. Interestingly enough, this is the same rate at which abortions were performed in the late '40s and '50s, when the procedure was illegal in America.
The difference between then and now is that the vast majority of abortions now are performed by medical professionals in sterile environments. If Ms. Smith thinks doctors are exploiting women now, she should look at who performed the procedure when it was illegal: a stranger with a coat hanger in a dark alley, who often demanded sexual favors as payment.
And if Ms. Smith thinks women are hurt today by abortion, she should take a look at what it did to women when it was a crime. Even today, in countries where abortion is illegal, 78,000 women die every year from botched operations. When abortion was a crime in America 360,000 women experienced post-operative complications from back alley abortions.
The fact of the matter is that criminalizing abortion does not make it go away. It simply forces women to seek it from untrained con men instead of medical professionals. Instead of forcing women into the back alleys, we should leave the decision of whether to have an abortion up to the people who will be affected by it most: women themselves.
Paul Heideman is a third year student in African-American Studies. He is a member of the International Socialist Organization
Anonymous (October 6, 2005 @ 3:25am):
Well said, Prof. Downs!
Mr. Heideman - where are your sources? Did you pull those numbers out of a hat? Abortion was not illegal in "America," it was illegal is some STATES.
Anonymous (October 6, 2005 @ 8:25am):
"Ms. Smith claims that approximately 3,561 abortions are performed daily in America. Interestingly enough, this is the same rate at which abortions were performed in the late '40s and '50s, when the procedure was illegal in America."
And since our population is much larger now, that means that the rate of abortions performed per 1,000 pregnancies (a much better indicator than raw numbers for the prevalence of abortion) has dropped drastically.
Abortion was legalized, and the result was a much lower abortion rate. Hm...
Anonymous (October 6, 2005 @ 6:49pm):
Mr. Heideman, you say "we should leave the decision of whether to have an abortion up to the people who will be affected by it most: women themselves," But you fail to mention that there is another party that is affected even more than the pregnant woman. The unborn child, no matter what you classify it as, is human, and aborting it ends its life. You can't 'affect' a human more than that.
Anonymous (October 6, 2005 @ 9:46pm):
Wow... this is embarassingly faulty logic. Lets just say that rape and murder are going to happen wether its legal or not... so lets just legalize it... who cares? Honestly... if its more dangerous to perform the abortion because its illegal... maybe some women will think (selfishly...of course) about the reprocussions.
