From: eyc@acpub.duke.edu (EMIL CHUCK)
Newsgroups: alt.rush-limbaugh,alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.elections,talk.abortion,alt.sex,talk.politics.misc
Subject: EDITORIAL: Desperation in national debate overlooks ultimate goals
Summary: Duke Chronicle editorial by David DePerro
Date: 16 Sep 92 04:13:06 GMT
Followup-To: alt.rush-limbaugh
Organization: Duke University; Durham, N.C.

Another fine editorial from the Duke _Chronicle_. Comments are
appreciated, and any contributions to the "Get me a scanner please
before I develop arthritis" fund is appreciated. Spelling errors are my
own, and I introduce this solely for the sake of debate.

Desperation in national debate overlooks ultimate goals
Taken gleefully without permission: Duke CHRONICLE Tue Sep 15 92
David DePerro (undergraduate Junior)

In Washington DC this summer, I learned something about myself: I don't
want to argue about abortion anymore.

It seemed like I argued about abortion every day with the people in my
office. And we were only a microcosm of the grander battles being fought
on the steps of the Supreme Court a few Metro stops away.

I am weary of the abortion debate because, in its current form, it
barely even ranks as political discourse. In the days leading up to the
Court's decision on the Pennsylvania abortion statute this summer, both
sides of the issue were demonstrating a still-more-intense form of the
desperation that has dominated the tone of the abortion debate for
years.

Desperation for pro-choicers: Ever since Reagan began stacking up the
Court his way, pro-choicers have felt like they were going to be pushed
off the edge of a cliff and that all abortion rights would be revoked in
an instant by the Court.

Desperation for pro-lifers: With abortions numbering over 1.5 million
per year, pro-lifers feel the urgency of achieving their number one
goal: Stopping the murder.

Desperation is an inherently inward-looking passion. It is a massive
indulgence in seeing only one's viewpoint (one's own) and feeling for
only one cause (one's own). And desperation has driven proponents of
each side to waste huge amounts of energy in massive public relations
endeavors, court cases, and legislative battles. I think both sides have
forgotten the goal.

The goal is not to see how old men <<and ONE WOMAN, may I insert!>> can
find another way to suppress women and deny them their rights as humans.
The goal is not to see how many babies Americans can kill in a year.

The goal is to provide lives of goodness and justice to the people of
our nation and world. I hope this is something we can agree on.

I hope we can agree that pregnant teenagers facing angry fathers have a
special need. I hope we can agree that large families about to add
another child have a special need. I hope we can agree that victims of
rape or incest have special needs.

As long as those needs go unaddressed by our society, women will flee to
abortion.

For too long, the abortion debate has focused on issues of availability
and supply. It's time we started doing something about demand. Can we
find more personal, more comforting and more loving ways to help the
women whose desperation drives them to abortion? I believe we can. I'm
willing to spend any amount of social energy meeting those needs.

I'm willing to spend any amount of social energy providing economically
for families unable to support the number of children they have. I'm
willing to spend any amount of social energy in creating a family
identity in this country that instills the values of responsible
sexuality.

I dream of a society where women do not have to suffer a stigma for
being pregnant -- it is this kind of induced shame that drives women to
abortion. I dream of a society with thoughtful programs and
compassionate people to help women with their life concerns. In this
kind of society, no one would argue about abortion -- no one would even
think about it.

Abortion is the second monumental crisis in American history -- the
first being racism epitomized in the institution of slavery. In some
ways, slavery was easier to resolve than the abortion issue; you could
resolve it with a war. The deep division in the people was generally
related to whether one lived in the North or the South; the two sides
could fight it out.

Attitudes about abortion, unfortunately, do not distribute themselves so
convieniently. Every household is divided; every other person in the
office holds a different view. Even church communities no longer share
the uniformity of belief that once existed.

War, or any physical coercion, is impossible in the American mosaic of
abortion opinion. And the LA riots of 1992 have shown us that maybe war
is not effective, even if possible; a hundred years after the Civil War,
race relations in America are still at a crisis level.

The desperation of the Civil War didn't work. Neither will the
desperation of today's abortion debate. We've got to stop spending so
much energy arguing and we've got to start doing something about
people's real needs.

And that means we have no choice, on abortion or race relations.

We have to work it out -- together.
*** END ***
-- 
Emil Thomas Chuck (Duke BME '93)		eyc@acpub.duke.edu
I'm too busy for my class, too busy for my clubs, too busy for my work.
I'm too busy for my mail, too busy for my news, too busy for my calls.
I'm too busy for this .sig.