. I
Abortion battle
not over yet
OM PAGE 1 meats have risea i some areas
and dropped in others since the
ban, according to Freind
OTONECAUSE
Listing said welfare fluctua­
tions can not be linked to only
one factor.
'1 don't think there's any way
of really tracking why welfare
costs increase or decrease,"
Listing said. "I think we'll be like
the rest of the country. There
won't be any evidence of a rise
in welfare costs' that can be
directly attributed to the ban. "
Listing said Pennsylvania
figures also refute the theory
that the. number of edicaid
births will soar because of
Proposal A
According to Freind's statis­
tics, there were about 12,000 to
13 000 Medicaid abortions in
Pennsylvania every year before
th b . Yet, according to "Vital
Statistics of the U.S.," the num­
ber of births in Pennsylvania
since 1982 hs remained fairly
constant.
"I think (Michigan) will
probably see a decrease in abor­
tions," Listing said "Andifwe're
like Pennsylvania and
Colorado, we'll also see a
decrease in the number of preg­
nancies, because when free
abortions aren't available,
women will use other birth con­
trol options under the Depart­
ment of Social Services. "
But Frey said drawing con­
clusions about . chigan based
on the experiences of Pennsyl­
vania and Colorado might be in­
accurate.
She said representatives of
. the Pennsylvania Department
l .
S ate moves to lim- 'Iawsui
CON'l1NUED
Committee to End Tax-Funded
Abortions.
Pc�lvania passed its ban
on the use of tax money to fund
abortions in 1980, but the ban
did not go into effect untll1985
because of court challenges.
The Colorado Legislature
passed its constitutional amend-
I ment banning tax-funded abor­
tions in 1984 and voters turned
down a referendum to appeal
that ban during the recent elec­
tion.
o FERS CO ER POINT
Listing said the decisive 60-
40 vote to retain the Colorado
ban proves that disallowing tax
funding of abor ions does not
damage a state's economy .
"If there had been any of the
dire predictions, the referen­
dum (repealing the Colorado
ban) would have passed," Lis -
ing said. "The law origina y
passed by only a one-half of 0 e
percent margin. After f ur
years of living with the law, they
then turned around and over-
whelmingly approved it JI'
"Here you have direct
evidence that people were
happy with the law."
Listing said the Pennsylvania
ban shows that ending tax- .
funded abortions does not
necessarily ina-ease taxes and
welfare costs. .
According to Pennsylvania
state Rep. Steve Freind, the
state's taxes have not risen in
about eight years and there has
even been a tax cut since the ban
was passed
Pennsylvania AFDC pay-
of Social Services disagree with
Freind 0 ban's cost to the
e and dded that the birth
rate in the Medicaid population
of Pennsylvania could have
risen althou�h the general
population birth rate figures
remained constant .
There simply is no clear-cut
or definite koqwledge of how
the ban will affect Michigan,
said Christopher DeRose, the
director of legislative relations
for the Michigan Department of
Management and Budget
"We are completely re-ex­
amining the effect of Proposal A
and will be doing that until
January, when they announce
the budget," Dekose said
Aside from financial con­
siderations, Wiener said the
number of abortion-related
health complications in
Michigan will jump.
"Many of these women fmd State Representative Charlie
other ways to have abortion," J. Harrison Jr. (D-Pontiac) has
Wiener said "Unfortunately, a been re-el cted to a two-year I
large number of these result in term as Region 9 Chair of the
serious complications because National Black Caucus of State
they (are not) done in a super- Legislators (NB�L).
vised proper health care set- "I'll be working with Caucus
tin " members in Michigan, Wiscon-
g. . d Ohio." R H .
Wiener said that before sm an 10, ep. arnson
Medicaid- funded abortions I said, "�o�dina.ting legislative
were offered in 1m, large num- and adm.1D1StratIve respo� to
bers of women died or had com- the special problems facing the
plications from abortions. people we .. epr�.1
"Those numbers dropped off Re p. Harr ison was re-
the charts after 1m, when e elec:ted as as one of 12 regional
started providing Medicaid chairs at �e recent NBCSL
abortions," Wiener said. conference m Tulsa. "We �lso /
"You're going to see those num- passed a number �f reso!utl�ns
bers rise again ... Many of the a! the conference, he sal� ur­
complications we had stopped gmg slate and federal action on
eeing I think are going to re- several. Cl!eas ?f concern, These
emerge." resolutl(�ns wIll. be .sent to the
, appropnate legislative body for
REV. MOSLEY APPOINTED TO � MORTALI1Y TASK
FORCE- Wayne County Eacuth'e P-
pointm 0 Reverend Ruth M. Mosl y olWest Side Unity Church
to the 15 - member "Execoth-e T k Force On Infant MOI1aIity."
The group is also immg to increase Ii . at support wdI
business d dtizen participation to cut inf: nt mortality tes.
Last year it estimated that there 15.5 per 1,000 H
births in a County due in part, to inadequate 0 tandi
of the importance of early and co tinuous prenatal care.
immediate cons ration.'
NBCSL members approved
a resolution sponsored by Rep.
Harri on calling for iacreased
economic development efforts
by Black state legislators. "My
fellow Black lawmakers and I
to be spent on road construe- are in a unique position to help
tion. lower the alarming unemploy-
. "When you are talking about ment rate in this country's Blac
a $415 million budget, $14 mil- communities," Rep. Harrison
lion represents a good size por - said. feel that effective co li­
tion of that," he said "Every bit tions of government and private
counts. • interests can greatly encourage
"When we wprk through aU job-creating and tax-paying
of the old cases and cut down on enterprises for our minority
the number of awards, there will workers."
be more money available." Other resolutions approved
Davis attributed the ina-ease at the NBCSL conference call
in lawsuits in the last several for: .
years to a 1979 judicial policy - Improved academic
change which allowed negligent preparation for Black students;
people - such as drunk driver - Full implementation of
- to sue the department if it state and national "set aside"
re proven that there was any- programs for minority business
.thing - major or minor - bidding on government service
wrong with the construction of contracts;
the highway. - Ina-eased voter participa-
She said that policy ed to a tion through on-site and same­
urplus of lawsuits against tho day registration;
state, many of which were un- - Economic boycotts of
warranted. firms continuing to support the
.. "Taxpayers are'unfairly being repressive government policies
ked to finance accidents by of South Africa; and
negligent people," she said. - Expansion and preserva­
"Thankfully, we will see a reduc- tion of safe, affordable housing
tion in this practice in as little as for low-income individuals and
a year." � families.
By Will S
CapitllJ News Servia
LA SI G - The state
Department of Transportation
expects to pay about $14 million
in liability la uits this year,
d pile recent . laOOn limit­
ing the state's liability.
But officiak say the way .
being paved for the day less tax
money is spent on such claims
and more on actual highway up­
keep and construction.
Diane Oavis, legisl tive
liaison for the departmen said
due to backlog of more than
400 cases goiDg through the
courts, the ageocy is still paying
settlements for cases that
precede the l'NO-year-olci"legis-
lion.
"It will prob bly be another
year before we see a reduction
. these cases, • e said
The legislatio which was
passed in 1986, limits the
department's Ii bility to
te r per e of the ac-
cident it i negligent for.
"It basically places limits on
how much people can get from She said the state depart­
us," she said. "Previously ment is completely self-insured
government served as deep so all damages are paid directly
pockets for peop e to extract out of the budget
money." She added that some coun-
She said once the backlog of ties, cities and villages are in­
pre-Iegislatioa cases goes sured by insurance companies.
through, the amount paid out by Some small village can be
the department ould be dras- strongly affected by the liability
tically reduced problem, because taxes have to
Once we get through these be levied if a local liability suit
cases things should be better," hits, Davis said.
she said "We'd rather spend our Accor ding to Brenda
money on road and bridge con- Turner, assistant attorney
struction an Pay 0 damag general for highway negligence,
for neglige t parties." the or ould be over for the
Davis said the $14 million the Department of Transportaiton.
department budgeted for the "We expect that the Jegisla­
year is 10 tim t paid tion will be useful in helping us
out during the 1978-79 fi cal to eliminate some of these
year. meaningless cases against the
"Prior to 1981, we didn't even state," she said -In the past
have to budget for this, " she said there hasn't been a reduction
'now it represents a substantial simply because we haven't
part of our budget." ked through the cases that
She said cities, counties and preceded the legislation."
villages in addition to the state Dick Kuzma, of the Depart­
department are affected by the ment of Transportation's en­
lawsuits. gineering revices divisin, said
"It's a b� problem for all of the projected reduction in
us," she saip. I damages will allow more money
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