I'
I In ake of
Abortion ban
JDS
-eial Services and strong op­
ponent ofProposai A, must no
implement the Ia he fought
hard against
LANSING - Proposal' A·. "I one 0 those op-
ended tax-funded abortions in p� Pro� A," Babcock
Michigan on December 12, but said, and. not t because of
its effects may Dot be known for DlO!1etary, JSSucs,_ but because I
more than a year. eve u unfair that : �
'Since the bill went into ef- woman should be treated dif­
feet only fe months ago, and ferently than my wife �r
pregnancies take nine months, it daughter who have health m-
may be a while before we see �y suranee." .
patterns," said Esther Reagan, a The law, passe� � �Yem­
spokesperson in the Medicaid ber, says that Medica!d will no
policy division of the state �nger pay for. elective abor­
Department of Social Services. trons. Abort!ons . 11 be
1u addition to the long gesta- financed only � carrymg the
tion period, doctors have 12 pregnancy to term, �es a
months to file for reimburse- threat. to the ther s c. A
ment by the Medicaid program. . case IS now being brought
Since .many doctors may not ,befo�e th� .co�rts. ·by t.he
ha filed yet for abortions per- Ame�� Ci LibertIeS Unaon
formed last year, final figures concernmg a 15-yeat-oJd �o
are DOt in for 1988. was raped, and who� famdy
C: Patrick Babcock, dirtdo t, . afIord thon. �
of the state Department of Se: ' A<;�� �(S the state to p ck
By ARI B. Adler
Capital News Service
up the tab. I
"Clearly there will be more
children born in MiclUgan., and
that is good' or bad depending
n your perspective," Babcock
said
. Babcock said 20 percent
more women will, carry their
pregnancies to term, while the
rest will find some way to afford
an abortion. '.
Reagan agreed: ·Women
who don't wanl to be pregnant,
won't be pregnant. It may take a
while for them to get the money,
but they are going to find it
sollMfwbere. "
Medicaid-funded abortions'
averaged about $300 each. Ac­
cording to Reagan, the annual
bill stood at about S600 million.
"But no , women will be car­
ripg thei pregnancies to term,
. cb mcaas welfare will take
care of birth and the postnatal
care," R aa sai d, "That bill
should un about $3,000 for
each birth, so there isn't go� to
be a pool of money- laying
around because of Proposal "
Babcock said abortion as
always been, and continues to
be, a major issue.
"What needs to happen n w
is that the people who s p­
ported Proposal A need to s p­
port the Legislature in help
these kids who are going to
born." .
Babcock said he believes
bortion in American society is
not just a clinical procedure, but
also a moral issue.
·Moral iss es should be
decided by the individual and­
not Ijy the state," said Babcock.
"II's important decision that a
women has to make, and we
have to support her in that
decision."
, ·My religious background
takes a very conservative view of
abortions, and if I had to make
the decision, I would probably
take that view," said Babcock,
"but there are many people in
this country who don't share my
religious philosophy, and I'm
not sure I 'should � im sing
my religious philosophy on
them..."
But now we have a law I must
implement," Babcoc .added,
"because the people have
. spoken,"
if he peOPLe �hO I .
upported proposal A
need to support the
Legi lature In h ping
these kid who are
going to be.bom.-
eighborhood AUiance grants
ELEANORE BLACKWELL, executive vic -presldeat of the Reg­
gie McKenzie Found lion, i co gratulated by Gov. J e
Blanchard on his announcement of the 0 nizatlon bei
«led a graut of 33,000 to bOost its tutori program.
working mothers are the top from their low income-jobs.
priority. It only allows funding Every welfare family does not
for a specified percentage of necessarily get child care assis­
welfare family's needs, leaving tance, because some may be
little to the mother who does not classified as making too much
work. and ineligible, she said.
An average welfare family of Several drop-in programs
three, making no more than have been set up to meet the
$856 a month, will receive 30 to needs of families who cannot af-
9() percent of financial assi - ford child care. Welfare
ranee in child care, she said. mothers also are using these
Funding usually is closer to the programs.
30 per nt margin, she said. However, these organiza-
This amount often falls far lions only offer child care on a
below what j Deeded to pay for rust-come-first serve basis and
quality child' care, De Pietro' only in three-hour blocks, said
said, . Dianne May, a program
An average Detroit. welfare specialist at a Lansing child care
f mily could receive $130 a drop-in service.
monthfromthedepartmen and May' said that several
i child care costs range from mothers who use the service are
abo $65 to $110 a week for an primarily low-income. But, the
, infant, she.said organization so far has not filled
Families end up trying to the gap for welfare mothers who
meet the extra costs with money
.1
Child care dilemma for welfare mother'
sometimes have to make early
appointments before 8 a.m.
The drop-in office open uR
early enough to get the children
registered by 8:30 a.m.
De Pietro said programs .
such as drop-in child care ser-.
vices are good but do not help if
the mother is' gone for an ex­
tended time. She said she hopes
the state will come up with a bet­
ter plan to bridge the gap be­
tween poor mothers and other
mothers.
"I would like to see the rates
(paid to welfare famili s) in­
crease so poor families can have
thesame access to quality child
care as middle class families,"
she said
De Pietro said that she
believes that the recently passed
Federal Welfare Reform Act is
a tep in the right direction for
better child care.
By" n S. .
Capital News Service
receive child care benefits from
the Department of Social Ser­
vices, she said If they attend
community colleges or univer­
sities on the undergraduate
level they can get financial assis­
tance, but not for graduate level
courses and not if they are un­
employed
The only' tUne they are al- ,
lowed that need-item if they are
going to school, " Johnson said
The money is there but there
is too little to cover the expenses
of those who are not orking,
said Leslie De Pietro, an East
Lansing-based Community
Coordinated Child Care As­
sociatio rogram pecialisl If
the parents are not working the '
idea is that they do n need
child care, because they are
home with the children.
e Ifare De Pietro said because of the
. de I' reatricted dget.
LA SING - Going to
school is the only way
Michigan's unemployed welfare
mothers can receive child care
assi tance. .
These mothers otherwise
have to be either employed or at
I � looking for a job, said In­
gham county Department of So-
I cial Services spokesperson,
Sadie Johnson.
There are DO programs
designed for mothers who just
want a place to leave their
children when they have ap­
pointments, including periodic
meetings with department s0-
cial orker. They have to take
their children with them,
J said.
Unemployed
can go to