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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1971

NIGHT EDITOR: HESTER PULLINGI


SGC election in review

ANOTHER STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Council election has come and gone,
leaving behind only echoes.
As in last spring's SGC election, con-
servative candidates made an impressive
showing - winning three full-year seats.
Radical candidates picked up two seats,
one of them for a half-year term. A new
dimension was added, with the -appear-
ance of GROUP, Government Reform of
University Policy, four of whose candi-
dates were victorious.
The election results had similarities to
last Spring's with the notable exception
of the unprecedented referendum to re-
call Brad Taylor, which was defeated. On
funding proposals though, students once
again voted in a close ballot not to in-
crease SGC's annual per student assess-
ment, but they also turned down the pos-
sibility of cutting off Council funding al-
together. College government funding
passed, in a close vote. Three innocuous
referenda aimed at further democratizing
SGC won handy victories.
Se we have the results, and once more,
we consider the meaning - a customary
post-election chore.
fS CAMPUS sentiment shifting to t h e
right? That might be one inference
to draw from a superficial glance at the
election outcome. But again, the r i g h t
presented a unified group of candidates
whereas the left - presented voters with
a wider choice.
In effect, the left garnered twice as
many votes, but they were dissipated
among various candidates as in last
spring's election. Leftist oriented stu-
dents had to choose between the
relatively inexperienced Radical
people's Coalition, the GROUP
members - undeniably adept but accus-
ed of strong radical politics, and a num-
ber of the independents.
How will the new SGC differ from
lackluster Councils we have had before?
It had become fashionable of late to
rail Council for its ineffectiveness, in-
ertia and its lack of real power. SGC
does indeed lack authority excepting its
allocation of $18,000 yearly, appointments
of students to various committees and en-
ioyment of some administration recogni-
tion as the legitimate "voice of the stu-
dents."
Before the election, these age-old crit-
icisms of SGC had been temporarily sus-
pended after the en masse resignations
of four members at large, leaving nine
seats to be filled in this week's balloting.
It would not make much sense, critics
decided, to chastise a body seating 11 in-
dividuals when in a few weeks, nine of
its members would be new ones.
And, with the defeat of the Taylor

recall and the resignation of SGC mem-
ber Barbara Goldman Monday, voting
students have placed all ten current mem-
bers at large on Council, including Brad
Taylor.
The defeat of the referenda to abolish
and increase SGC funding, however, in-
dicates that while students may approve
of Council as a concept, they have no
abundance of confidence in it as a func-
tioning organization.
And it is difficult indeed to justify
increasing funding of an organization
which has inspired so lttle support and a
great deal of antipathy from all seg-
ments of the. University from persons o
all political persuasions.
For example, the idea of a student food
co-op has been tossed about for over a
year, yet SGC has done nothing to estab-
lish such a service. Even without the
money necessary for the actual opera-
tion, Council could have looked into pos-
sible sites and other grocery logistics
Instead, SGC puts forth a set of pro-
posalswhich could berimplementedpif
funding were increased, but it has posited
little evidence that its plans will generate
enough interest on Council to be enacted
WHAT SGC needs is effectiveness, and
. the way that can be attained is through
its members' active efforts, not through
increased appropriations aimed toward
student services, appealing through those
services may appear.
Council must overcome the political dif-
ferences of its new members, or the lack
of faith it presently suffers will continue.
Indeed, if SGC members do not fight their
ego-tripping impulses and instead work
for student interests with the money they
presently receive - we shall not be sorry
to see SGC dissolve.
For, in the larger'perspective, the "au-
thority" to appoint students to serve as
tokens in the University governance
structure, the "power" to. dole out certain
allotments to various student organiza-
tions, and the "legitimacy" to speak for
student opinion based on a mandate of 16
per cent of the student population are in-
consequential entities. These shadowy de-
finitions of SGC's raison d'etre have too
long been held up as threats in what has
been a mythical fight for student rights.
Without Council, it has been assumed,
students would be at.a terrible disadvant-
age in the scheme of University opera-
tions.
"Power is inherent in the people," ac-
cording to our state constitution. If SGC
fails to perform, the student population
must work for its best interests apart
from any formal recognized University
structure.
It is too late to tolerate foot-dragging.
-ROSE SUE BERSTEIN

IT ALL STARTED about the third week
in September when Rob decided that
we were wasting too much money on food.
"I have noticed," he announced to his
assembled roommates, "that we spend 32
cents for 46 fluid ounces of canned juice."
"That's less than a penny an ounce,"
observed Greg, who happens to be a math
major.
"Nonetheless," Rob continued, "we could
further economize by drinking Kool-Aid,
which would cost approximately 15 cents
per gallon, and that's including sugar."
"How much is that per ounce?" I asked.
Everyone ignored me.
"Just one point," said Mike. "I noticed
that our canned juice contains 100 milli-
grams of Vitamin C per six ounce serving.
Where are we going to get those vitamins
if we drink Kool-Aid?"
"Linus Pauling would not appreciate
this,"'said Greg.
But Rob is sure smart, he is, and he had
the answer at his fingertips.
"I have here at my fingertips," he said,
"a bottle of 250 milligrams of ascorbic acid
tablets. We add nine tablets to each gallon
of Kool-Aid and we get more vitamins than
Hi-C. And since they cost slightly more
f than a penny a tablet, we still save more
than 50 per cent."
Kool-Aid fortified with Vitamin C is
really quite good, and we learned to like
it.
A COUPLE OF WEEKS later, Rob in-
stituted another economizing innovation.
We were sitting around the dinner table
digesting our supper of hamburgers a n d
Kool-Aid, when he asked suddenly, "How
did you like the hamburgers?"
"They were great," we said.
"Well, then," Rob said, "you'll be happy
to note that I saved 15 cents per pound
on that stuff."

hamburger, and it has the same nutri-
tional value and it's cheaper. Now, aren't
you impressed?"
We were amazed.
The only result of our switch to ground
animal parts. aside from the monetary sav-
ings, was that Rob became subjected to
continual harassment whenever he cook-
ed, which was almost every night.
"That looks real, Rob. Like real dog
food."
"Gee, Rob. That sure looks like some-
thing you'd feed your dog - if you didn't
like him very much."
These comments apparently had an ef-
fect on Rob, because one day a, 25 pound
bag of dog food appeared in the corner
of our kitchen.
That evening, as Rob was preparing to
make supper, Mike discretely inquired,
"What's for supper?"
"Fried potatoes," Rob answered.
"Potatoes and what?"
"Potatoes and potatoes."
"We have to eat something besides po-
tatoes."
"Why? Ireland was built on fried po-
tatoes."
Mike thought that perhaps Ireland was
built on boiled or roasted potatoes, b u t
with dinner hanging in the balance, this
was no time to argue.
So we had fried potatoes for supper.
They were great.
THE NEXT DAY, the dog food bag was
still in the corner, and Rob was preparing
a hamburger dish for supper. Oddly
enough, no one made a single comment
about dog food. In fact, we all noted the
high quality of the dinner.
The dog food now resides in a closet
where it acts as a preventive deterrent. But
25 pounds is less than four dollars which
is less than 17 cents a pound.

I

i

We were happy because when you buy
eight pounds of hamburger at a time,
that type of savings can add up.
"Was it on sale?" Mike asked.
"Not exactly," said Rob. "In fact, it
wasn't really hamburger."
"It sure tasted like hamburger," said
Greg.

"What was it?' I asked.
"The label said 'Ground Animal Parts,'"
Rob said modestly.
"Ground animal parts?" I said, feeling
my stomach start to churn. "Isn't t h a t
used for dog-food?"
"'MAYBE," said Rob, "But it tastes like

Linking child abuse and abortion laws

A

By JEAN KING
and WENDY WILNER
EVERY DAY in Michigan and in
other states children are born
to mothers who had sought to ter-
minate their pregnancies but were
unable to do so because they lack-
ed money or information.
Are these unwanted children
more likely to be victims of child
abuse than children of mothers
who had not sought abortion?
No, according to a handbook
available at the recent teach-in
from opponents of liberalized
abortion laws.
Dr. and Ms. J. C. Willkie, in
their Handbook on Abortion re-,
port that "Dr. Edward Lemoski,
Professor of Pediatrics at t h e
University of Sputhern California,
did a four-and-a-half year study
of 400 battered children. He de-
termined that 90 per cent of the
battered children in his study were
planned pregnancies."
The authors comment that
"ninety per cent is far a b o v e
average for planned pregnancies,"
and they conclude that "we could
apparently kill all 'unwanted' bab-
ies in the early stages of preg-
Jean King is an Ann Arbor
attorney active in the women's
movement; Wendy Wilner is a
second-year law student at the Uni-
versity-

nancy, but still not significantly
reduce the numbers of battered
children."
ON THE OTHER hand, a re-
commendation by Nancy and Nor-
man Polansky incorporated in
their report to the Joint Commis-
sion on Mental Health for Child-
ren of February 1968 entitled "The
Current Status of Child Abuse and
Child Neglect" points out that the
child in the greatest danger from
both abuse and severe neglect is
below the age of three.
He is often in danger of death.
At a minimum, they say, the abus-
ed child will be marked for 11i f e
emotionally and in his ability to
learn and to earn a living. This
degree of danger, the Polanskys
believe, is customarily underesti-
mated by the public in general and
by people in occupations with re-
sponsibility for investigating abuse
cases.
The Polanskys' recommenda-
tions for reducing the incidence
of child abuse include permanent
removal of any child under the age
of three from a home if there is
persuasive evidence he has been
abused, probation for the parents
of such a child, continuous obser-
vation of the other children in the
home, and prosecution of such a
parent under child abuse statutes.
where possible.
Concerning abortion laws, they
recommend "a general legal prin-

'4

-Daily-Sara Krulwich

Letters: Women discuss abortion issues

To The Daily:
FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS of last
Saturday's Teach-in on abortion, I
would like to comment on the import-
ance of the repeal struggle as a part
)f the growing feminist movement.
For 'years women have been victims
of a cultural and economic sexism
which has pre-determined our role and
position in life solely on the fact
(hat we are physically equipped to
bear children. By these standards, wo-
men need, it seems, to develop a kind
)f dual behavior - a behavior that
at one and the same time allows us
to be sexually liberated (exploited),
and sexually untouched, pure (asex-
ual).
We are not intelligent enough for
a demanding career, but we have a
natural "gift" for pedagogy. We
aren't strong enough to take care of
ourselves without male assistance, but
our "instinctual" behavior makes it
possible to do countless hours of house-
work and childcare after an eight
hour workday where we're payed half
the salary of a man in the same posi-
tion.
Pregnancy is beautiful and mother-
hood our greatest fulfillment, but we
get fired, expelled, and/or repulsed if
it doesn't occur within a prescribed set

ments in the feminist struggle f o r
equality is the right to control our own
bodies. Instead of being victims of our
sexuality we assert the right to its
full expression whatever we determine
that to be. The decision is ours to
make, not to be made for us! Abor-
tion on demand is essential to the
right to control our bodies, but it can-
not be completely successful unless ac-
companied by unrestricted access to
contraceptives and an immediate end
to forced sterilization.
The various arguments being posed
against abortion have in common their
denial to women of sexual self-control.
The view that pro-abortionists are
anti-life, advocators of murder, pro-
jects a questionable understanding of
what protection of life means. Since
in the present system a child is-tot-
ally dependent from birth to e a r 1 y
adulthood on the emotional and eco-
nomic support of one or two individ-
uals. it is most crucial that those child-
ren be wanted. That is their real right
to life. And it is the woman's right
to decide when and if she wants a
child in her life.
Pregnancy doesn't equal motherhood
nor indicate familial security as thous-
ands of children alone in institutions
or even their own homes remind us.

peal movement as a forerunner to en-
forced population control misunder-
stands both our demands and the full
meaning of the present legal situation.
The fact that there are presently laws
controlling our most personal activi-
ties, laws which enforce compulsory
motherhood and sterilization, which
make homosexuality a crime - those
are the laws which this racist, sexist
system needs in order to exist. Re-
peal of anti-abortion laws and no
forced sterilization ensure the individ-
ual woman's rights to sexual expres-
sion. Until this is a reality the threat
of genocide continues.
IN THE MOVEMENT for an end to
a system living off exploitation and
oppression, feminism will grow and
strengthen asdan integral part of the
fight for self-determination for women,
men and children. But our effective-
ness continues to depend on our abil-
ity to build an independent feminist
movement, to draw thousands m o r e
women around women's demands for
an end to discrimination and for full
equal rights.
The Women's National Abortion Ac-
tion Coalition (WONAAC) which seeks
to unite black women. Chicanos, Asian-
American women, working women and

tion November 20th in Wash., D.C.
Demonstrate for repeal of all anti-
abortion laws, an end to restrictedcon-
traception, and forced sterilization!
-Marcia Wisch
WONAAC
Nov. 14
To The Daily:
I AM CONCERNED that most of
the recent discussion on repeal or re-
form of abortion laws has not shed
any light on one of the most import-
ant problems women face in obtain-
ing abortions-that is the cost. Re-
form of the laws which does not in-
clude specific proposals for making
abortions available to all women, re-
gardless of their financial resources,
would be worthless. That reform
would not alter the present situation
for American women. As it is, the
rich (or rich enough) can get safe
abortion and the poor cannot.
The hospitals will continue to see
in the emergency rooms the gruesome
results of homemade abortion recipes
or "hack" jobs unless women begin
to demand provision in reform legisla-
tion for ability-to-pay abortions. Im-
mediately after reform of abortion
laws in New York some women had to
pay$800! I understand that a safe,

ciple that no woman should have
to bear a child that she really does
not want."
THIS OPINION is countered by
the widely prevalent view that the
abused child is a wanted child who
just doesn't deliver. The parents
see children primarily as a source
of love and gratification. The child
may, however, produce mainly cry-
ing and colic. Frustrated in their
expectations, the parents - or
rather one parent with the other
acquiescing - batter him for
"withholding" the loving responses
they seek. Frequently battering
parents were themselves abused as
children.
But the off-hand answer of an
observer of the injuries sustained
by abused children might be dif-
ferent. Scars from cigarette burns
and bites or from beatings and
scaldings are not uncommon: Mul-
tiple fractures and severe head in-
juries are frequently seen.
Some of the explanations offer-
ed by abusing parents are: t h e
baby "hit himself on the h e a d
with his bottle," or her leg is
broken because "she caught it be-
tween the slats of her crib," or,
the popular favorite, "he fell off
the sofa." Doesn't this behavior
alone demonstrate that the child
is unwanted?
IT HAS only recently become
feasible to consider, in the Unit-
ed States, designing studies that
might conclusively answer the
questions posed here. As a result
of liberalization of abortion laws
in many states, the number of le-
gal abortions in the United States
rose from 18,000 in 1968 to 200,-
000 in 1970. Retrospect research.
the only design possible before le-
gal abortion became available to
a significant number of women.
may produce questionable results

application for abortion - to the
subsequent life history of the
child.
TIOUGH IT does not relate
directly to battered children, a
1966 study in Acta Psychiatrica
Scandinavica is an example of the
kind of design that should be con-
sidered. Authored by Hans Forss-
man and Inga Thuwe, it is en-
titled "One Hundred and Twenty
Children Born after Application
for Therapeutic Abortion Refus-
ed."
, The geographic area under study
was Goteborg, Sweden, a city with
a population at the time the child-
ren were born about twice as large
as that of the Ann Arbor area.
The mothers of thi children in-
vestigated were women who had
applied for a therapeutic abortion
in the years 1939, 1940, and 1941,
and who had been refused. All

these 120 children and their con-
trols on a number of sociological
indicators. The unwanted children
appeared to be worse off in every
respect. The differences, the au-
thors note, were often statistically
significant and when they were
not, they pointed toward a worse
lot for the unwanted children.
"The very fact that a woman
seeks an authorized abortion, no
matter -how trivial her grounds
may appear to some, means that
the expected child 'will run a
larger risk than its peers of an in-
ferior standing in life," say Forrs-
man and Thuwe.
No battered children were men-
tioned in the Swedish report. Does
that indicate that availability of
abortion is unrelated to battering?
Or are the results of the study
irrelevant to battering in America
because of our tradition of vio- 1
lence? Or should we look more

"The first right of every child is to be wanted,
to be desired, to be planned with an intensity of
love that gives it its title to being." The opening
sentence of a speech delivered 119 times in
various parts of the United States by feminist
Margaret Sanger in 1 916.

told, 197 women had made such
application during these y e a r s
and had been refused, in m o s t
cases by a psychiatrist. and a few
on further appeal to a medical
board.
Of the pregnancies for w h i c h
legal termination was refused, 68
ended in abortion, either spon-
taneous or provoked. The final
result, in numbers of children, was
134. Fourteen of these children
died before the age of three.

closely at the 14 children w h o
died before the age of three?
AT THE National Abortion Con-
ference in New York in June 1971,
Dr. Edward Press, state h e a l t h
officer of Oregon, remarked that
in his state the death rate of in-
fants under a year of age had
been steady for a decade at twen-
ty per thousand, but the prelim-
inary figures for last year showed
a drop to 15 per thousand. This