Seventy-nine years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by s+udents of the University of Michigan
Abortion
methods:
The real and unreal
Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
TURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1970 NIGHT EDITOR: JUDY SARASOHN
i~liken and the 'U' budget:
Erosion of an institution
FACED WITH A sagging national econ-
omy, accompanied by inflation and
an election-year reluctance to increase
taxes, Gov. Milliken has resorted to major
funding cutbacks, which,if approved by
the Legislature, will -have dire implica-
tions throughout the state.
But perhaps the severest consequences
of the cutbacks will be felt here at the
University, and at other public institu-
tions of higher education, which were
treated in a curt and unrealistic manner
in the governor's proposed budget for the
1970-71 fiscal year.
By slashing $8.3 million from the Uni-
versity's requested state appropriation to
the general fund, Milliken has gi ve n
tacit approval to another tuition hike
here - the third in four years.
For even a perfunctory analysis of the
University's projected "essential" expen-
ditures from the general fund shows that
they will be far from met by the expected
income from the fund's sources of re-
venue.
THE APPROPRIATION of $75.7 million
which the governor requested in his
budget message would allow an increase
of only $6.7 million over last year's gen-
eral fund budget.
And, with an eight per cent increase in
faculty salaries and fringe benefits high
on the administration's priority list, t h e
$6.7 million is immediately depleted. This
increase, plus pressing wage increases for
non-academic staff, have been estimated
at $6.45 million.
If the boosts in salary and staff bene-
fits remain as currently budgeted - and
University administrators say they will be
hard-pressed to keep the increases n'ear
the projected levels - the University
would be left with about $400,000 to
distribute among the $8.3 million in es-,
timated general fund increases which
were not covered by Milliken's request.
Some administrators note that a siz-
able portion of the $8.3 million must be al-
located by the University . to "essential"
programs.
In addition, the long overdue demands
from black students at the University
for increased minority recruitment with
an accompanying boost in financial aid
must be adopted without delay.
CLEARLY, THE governor -has refused to
recognize the urgency of these pro-
grams, and the others which may have
to be cut for lack of funds. But the im-
practicality of the. governor's budget re-
quest is even more serious. In presenting
the appropriation requests to the Legis-
lature, Milliken asked that at least $1
'million of the state's allocation to the
University be earmarked for specific pro-
grams.
Given the almost mandatory salary in-
creases, and the $400,000 which would be
left afterwards, the governor is actually
suggesting that even the University's al-
locations to many current programs be
sharply reduced to accommodate his pre-
ferred programs.
It is unfortunate that Milliken remains
unaware of the steady erosion of the
University's quality as an institution of
higher education over the last several
years. As its national ranking for average
compensation to full-time faculty mem-
bers continues to drop, it becomes easier
for better financed institutions to attract
the University's better faculty members.
In addition, the University's inability
to meet increasing enrollment with a
proportionate increase in faculty mem-
bers has led to a steady rise in class size,
to more and more freshman and sopho-
more classes being taught by graduate
students, and, in recent weeks, to the
impending establishment by several de-
partments of restrictive quotas limiting
the number of non - concentrators in
upper-level courses.
This last factor, which department
chairmen say is unavoidable, can only
serve as another obstacle to the attempt
of many students to secure a "liberal edu..,
cation"-which demands exposure to a
wide variety of fields.
And the almost inevitable tuition in-
crease which is the upshot of Milliken's
mathematics threatens to maintain the
University's deplorable status as a school
for white students with money.
ALTHOUGH THE Legislature must still
pass, on Milliken's appropriation re-
quests, and they are likely to make a few
changes, there is little cause for optimism.
In the last few years, the legislators
have declined to raise higher education
appropriations above the governor's rec-
ommendations to any sizable extent.
Admittedly, the state has been con-
fronted with a steady decrease in re-
sourdes. But this has been due, in part, to
the government's reluctance to seek a
graduated state income tax. It is unfor-
tunate that education must suffer be-
cause of politics.
And students at the University, mean-
while, will be told to fill in the financial
gap left by Lansing. Alternatively, the
University might opt for sharp reductions
in some programs, total elimination of
others, and a continuing decrease in the
number and quality of the faculty.
Either way, those most injured by this
continuing financial merry-go-round will
be the students.
-ROBERT KRAFTOWITZ
x
i
1
i
f
t
By JIM NEUBACHER
(fifth of a series)
NEED AN abortion? Just ask anyone and they'll tell
you that "speed" causes a woman to naturally
abort her pregnancy. Just take some methedrine and
your problem is solved.
It's not true.
The rumor that oral ingestion of speed causes a mis-
carriage is just one of the many "fad" methods of
abortion that catch on in Ann Arbor every few years,
and then die out.
"Since I've been around, there've been at least three
or four stages of this. It's a real problem," says one
Ann Arbor gynecologist.
OFTEN, THE rumors are given a sort of credibility
by med students, said a Detroit clergyman who does
abortion counseling.
Despite their ability to rattle off names and drugs,
they are often as misinformed as everyone else. Many
times unethical med students find access to pills and
drugs and capitalize on the general ignorance of the
public by selling the medication, claiming it will work.
"The problem is, they automatically have a 10 per
cent success rate," says the doctor. He explained that 10
or 12 per cent of all pregnancies abort on their own.
Most persons are. unaware of this, however, and
when a woman after taking a perfectly useless pill sold to
her by a med student for 50 dollars experiences a na-
tural abortion, she becomes a living testimonial to his
business.
"One student I remember, was selling capsules of as-
corbic acid, plain old vitamin C," said the doctor. "The
funny thing is that at the same time, researchers were
studying the possible ways to use ascorbic acid in pre-
venting miscarriages."
HE EXPLAINED that another recent "fad" method
of abortion was derived from fertility pills. He explained
that a variation of the pill, is administered to women
who, because of tension, worry, or nervousness miss their
menstrual period.
"This happens frequently in young women," he ex-
plained. He said the pill is administered for five straight
days, and then discontinued. "About two days after, a ;
period occurs, and the cycle is restarted."
Are reporte
Often, however, these young women who miss their
period due to such nervousness fear that they are preg-
nant, and fall prey to the unscrupulous drug dealer. They
are sold five of the fertility pills, take them, menstruate,
and think that they are experiencing an abortion of their
imaginary pregnancy. The only real effect is to relieve
their worry.
ADD THIS TO the number of those who really are
pregnant, and who experience a naturally-caused abor-
tion, and you have a large percentage of women willing
to swear by the effectiveness of a perfectly useless drug.
The fads will likely continue because of the illegality
of standard, well-known methods of abortion. But re-
searchers are seriously studying some theories that might
lead to a truly effective form of oral abortion.
ONE SUCH FORM, "the morning-after pill", has been
in use for some time. It's effectiveness is generally limit-
ed. however, to within 3-5 days after conception.
Originally developed to prevent endometriosis, a dis-
ease affecting the lining of the uterus, the drugs in the
"morning-after ,pill" cause the lining to change.
Taken after conception, the same drug prevents the
fertilized egg from implanting itself in the lining of
the uterus and forming a placenta, thus making it im-
possible for the fetus to develop past five days of life.
At the next menstrual period, the stunted fetus is re-
leased with the normal menstrual fluid.
THE "MORNING-AFTER PILL" is perfectly legal;
there is no ban on the drug since it is used for other
genuine medical purposes. In fact, it is as absolute a
form of abortion as a surgical operation.
Most women, however, don't begin to search for ways
to end their pregnancy until they know for sure they
are pregnant. Often, this is four to six weeks atfer con-
ception. Thus, work goes on to develop a pill that will
be effective this late in the pregnancy.
ONE SUCH PILL is being tested, but is not available
for public use. Whether it will be legal, even if found
to be safe and effective, is questionable, since research-
ers claim it could end a pregnancy as late as five months
after conception-something current abortion flaws are
unlikely to allow.
According to one doctor, the pill will most likely work
on the same theory as some of the anti-cancer drugs now
being used.
The approach is to administer a cyto-toxic drug, a
chemical that attacks or destroys cells. Since cancer
cells, just like a fetus in early development, grow faster
and multiply quicker than regular cells, they assimilate
more of the cyto-toxins and die. The regular cells are
affected somewhat, and care must be taken to administer
proper doses in order to avoid killing the patient while
curing his cancer.
ANOTHER DIFFICULTY of these drugs is the doc-
tors' willingness to use them.
When confronted by the alternative risk of allowing
cancer to develop, doctors often take the risk of using
cyto-toxic drugs. When the alternative is pregnancy,
however, they may not recommend such a course of
action.
The oral method of abortion, then, does not exist yet
to any real extent. And the'surgical methods are illegal
in most cases,
However, doctors looking ahead to the day when
abortion might be legalized and attempting to improve
techniques used in the few legal abortions performed
each year, are also testing new surgical methods.
Dr. Crosby J. Eaton of the University's Women's Hos-
pital, writing in the Journal of the American Medical
Association in March, 1969, described "aspiration", a
suction means of evacuating a pregnant uterus.
He explained it is "simple, fast, and attended with less
blood loss" than the simple, safe operations now per-
formed called "dilation and curretage", a scraping of
the walls of the uterus witha sharp tool.
EATON'S METHOD uses a vacuum device to clean the
tissue out of the uterus with great efficiency, eliminat-
ing the danger of puncturing the uterus that always
exists in a "D&C".
But aspiration, like "D&C", can only be used legally
to serve an extremely small percentage of the women
who seek abortions each year. Unfortunately, the fads,
dangerous and unreliable as they are, will continue, as
long as more conventional solutions to the problem re-
main contraband.
lI
9.
tools'
for the police?
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Tep following article,
written by Prof. Yablonky of the journal-
ism department, was originally broadcast
over University radio.)
By BEN YABLONKY
Daily Guest Writer
SOME JOURNALISTS will argue that
there is a special confidential rela-
tionship between a reporter and his
sources, much like that which exists be-
tween a clergyman and his parishioners
or a lawyer and his clients. What passes
between them, except for that which is
voluntarily made public, is no else's busi-
ness and is not subject to subpoena.
In so far as newsmen are concerned, that
notion has been tested in the courts many
times and some ardent reporters have even
gone to jail to protect their sources.
The question being tested at the moment
in a rather sweeping way is whether the
courts have the rights to use a journalist's
material, not only that which has been
printed or broadcast, but all other material
as well, say a newspaper reporter's notes,
or the unused tape recordings or film, in
the case of a radio or television news or
documentary program.
Now, newsmen, like any other citizens,
recognize that they have an obligation to
serve justice. Few of them would hesitate
to volunteer pertinent evidence in a trial,
and many of them have. But'where should
the line be drawn between the law and
the journalist.
a THIS QUESTION ARISES with a grow-
ing concern among broadcast news execu-
tives and newspaper and magazine editors
that law enforcement officials are increas-
ing their efforts to collect intelligence data
about radical movements from the news
media..
Time magazine, in reviewing this al-
arming trend, quotes an unidentified New
York City newsman as saying:
"The way things are going, reporters
will soon have to preface an interview
with the caution, 'You have the right to
remain silent and to have a lawyer present.
Anything you say may be taken down and
used as evidence against you.'"
That may be stretching the situation a
bit, as the magazine points out. But the
evidence is indeed alarming to newsmen.
The courts-local, state and federal-have
been exercising their subpoena powers, in
the last year or so, demanding all sorts
of material from the news media.
THE SUBPOENA splurge against the
news media began after the 1968 Demo-
cratic convention in Chicago and its at-
tendant rioting and demonstrations. News-
papers, magazines and broadcasters re-
ceived subpoenas from federal and state
grand juries, United States attorneys and
states' attorneys, the city corporation
counsel and assorted individual plaintiffs
and defendants.
In Chicago, last October, there were a
new rash of subpoenas directed to the
news media after the radical group, the
Weathermen, staged their window-break-
ing spree. The subpoenas went to editors
of local newspapers and broadcast stations
and came from government attorneys, only
to be followed by similar subpoenas from
, a special county grand jury.
In December; again In Chicago, following
the gun battle between Black Panthers
and the police more subpoenas were is-
sued. Lawyers preparing a defense for
that has been investigating the Black
Panther Party.
The managing editor of the New York
Times, A. M. Rosenthal, in a statement,
said that the management of The Times
was consulting with its attorneys on the
implication of the terms of the federal sub-
poena with a view to advising their cor-
respondent and determining what position
should be taken by The Times.
In New York, CBS News was served with
a subpoena recently, calling for news film,
including outtakes - those portions de-
leted from the material shown on the air-
on the Black Panther Party.
The material in question involves a
CBS program, "60 Minutes;' Jan. 6 broad-
cast which carried interviews with the
Black Panther leader, David Hilliard and
another leader of the Panther party, Eld-
ridge Cleaver, who is in exile in Algeria,
The subpoena in this particular case
was sought by the Secret Service, acting
for the Justice Department, and stems
from charges against Hilliard that he
threatened the life of President Nixon in a
speech Nov. 15 at a Moratorium Day meet-
ing in San Francisco.
The subpoena directed at CBS is sweep-
ing in its demands. It seeks a complete
record of all correspondence, memoran-
dums, notes and telephone calls in ar-
ranging the Black Panther program, in-
cluding the interview with Cleaver. It
covers the period from mid-1968 to 1970.
IN STILL OTHER action which has
come to light recently, the federal courts
have subpoenaed the files and unused pic-
tures of Time, Life and Newsweek -maga-
zines, dealing with the Weathermen faction
of Students for a Democratic Society.
A spokesman for the Justice Department
has maintained that there was no change
in policy. He is quoted as saying that for
years the department had obtained in-
formation from the news media, partic-
ularly in civil rights cases in the South,
some times voluntarily and sometimes
through subpoena.
However, executives of the news media
are not so sanguine about the latest moves.
CBS has indicated that it will comply
with the subpoena but is considering taking
the matter into the courts to define the
areas of the subpoena powers..
A statement issued by the general coun-
sel for the network, Paul Sternbach, in-
dicates the dilemma facing CBS-and
other media for that matter. It says:
"Questions have been put to CBS
concerning subpoenas in certain pend-
ing criminal proceedings. CBS is legal-
ly required to comply with valid sub-
poenas issued on behalf of either prose-
cution of the defense. However, If a
particular subpoena for news material
is unduly broad in scope, or would
create an unwarranted burden on our
news operations, we attempt to narrow
the subpoena-by negotiation, or if
necessary by appeal to the courts-in
an effort to eliminate the conflict be-
tween the principles of a free press and
the power of judicial inquiry."
As an illustration of the reference to an
unwarranted burden on news operations in
the CBS statement, one television station
has contended that the search for and
reproduction of film strips requested by
I
/i
Fleming should take
scholarship law to court
-Daily-Thomas R. Copi
PRESIDENT ROBBEN Fleming is trying
to satisfy both the government and
the students in his policy on the rescind-
ing of scholarship money from students
convicted of participating in lisruptive
demonstrations.
Unfortunately, there is no way he can
please both sides.
Last spring when the state bill was in
legislative committee ,Fleming went to
Lansing to testify against the repressive
law. Today he has a chance to turn his
testimony into action. Students and fac-
ulty are urging him not to .comply with
the federal law which request the names
of students involved in disruptions, and
to test the constitutionality of the state
law which requires that he submit the
names of convicted students.
FLEMING HAS decided not to send in
the names of those convicted in the
LSA sit-in to the federal authorities.
However, he is sending in a letter inform-
ing them that the disruptive demonstra-
tion took place. He is taking this action
to insure that the University's grants
Editorial Staff
HENRY GRIX. Editor
STEVE NTSSEN RON LANDSMAN
from the Department of Health, Educa-
tion and Welfare are not rescinded.
If he does send the letter, it is a simple
matter to check the local newspapers for
names. Therefore, even though Fleming
is 'theoretically in agreement with stu-
dents and faculty, he is effectively com-
plying with the law.
On the state level, Fleming is consider-
ing challenging the law's constitutional-
ity. But, he will do so only if University
lawyers believe there is a possibility that
the case can be won.
IT IS IMPERATIVE that this law be
tested in court because of the serious
question that it raises.
One of the worst results of the law is
that it discriminates against, poor stu-
dents whose continued education is de-
pendent on financial aid. This is especial-
ly true for minority group students, many
of whom received state Economic Oppor-
tunity Awards.
This bill says to these students either
you can have an education or you can be
politically active with the corresponding
political philosophy, not both.
The law also creates a system a double
jeopardy, or triple jeopardy if you in-
that they would disclose some germane
information.
Trezevant, who is also general manager
of the two Chicago dailies, the Sun-Times
and the Daily News, charged that these
dragnet subpoenas had led to what he
called reckless fishing expeditions through
newspaper files and a harassment of the
editorial staff.
As a result, he said that the publishers'
association was preparing steps to quash
a subpoena in a test case, designed to es-
tablish guidelines for a more orderly pro-
cess of obtaining material from the media.
The big problem, Trezevant says, is to
find a way of fulfilling civic duty to the
judicial process without disrupting normal
operations or becoming an investigative
agency for the prosecution or the defense.
He said further that his two newspapers
were strongly opposed to any attempt to
subpoena notes from reporters, a practice
he described as a dangerous restriction
to freedom of the press.
A similar concern over the subpoenaing
of newspaper files has been expressed by
the president of the American Society of
Newspaper Editors, Norman Isaacs, editor
of the Louisville Courier Journal.
He says, "I am afraid that has all
the earmarks of the domino theory. If
we start by accepting the jurisdiction
of the federal courts into our files, we
can become vulnerable to all kinds of
local or congressional investigations. I
am seriously concerned over the broad
Qrcn il-the wpnn a. nfiva of Cho4L.
material on the Weathermen from con-
fidential sources, and that the magazine
was negotiating with the United States At-
torney's Office in Chicago to delete any
identification of these sources from the
files before they were presented to the
court.
Other news executives have pointed out
that the use of the subpoena powers by
the courts could well undermine the basic
function of the news media to gather and
disseminate information.
That point was made by the president
of CBS News, Richard Salant, who is him-
self a lawyer.
He says, "This can't become a drag-
net operation in which law enforce-
ment people are relying on us to do
their police work. People are going to
duck when we come around because
they'll think we are arms of govern-
ment. Our sources will dry up. We
have trouble now covering the activi-
ties of militants because they regard
us as a part of government."
THIS IS THE BASIC issue, from a prac-
tical point of view. The media are already
suspect among radicals and militants, as
Salant says. In fact, aside from ideological
considerations, young militants simply do
not trust the news media because in a few
instances, neswmen have leant themselves
as undercover agents for law enforcement
authorities and this puts the faith and
trust of all newsmen in jeopardy.
The cour'tsq rrtainlu are going to have
f