The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 22, 1989 - Page 5
Attorneys debate husbands'
rights
Flint abortion case challenges existing law
LANSING - The attorneys in a highly publicized
Flint abortion case disagreed sharply yesterday over
whether a husband's rights should offset his wife's
when she wants to end a pregnancy.
Under current law, husbands don't have any rights in
such cases, said Steven Moss, who represented Carlton
Lewis in the case last year.
In that case, Lewis and his wife, Shawn, were in the
process of getting a divorce when they had a brief
reconciliation and she became pregnant. She decided she
wanted to have an abortion and her husband got an
injunction to stop her.
Lewis and his wife, Shawn, were in
the process of getting a divorce when
they had a brief reconciliation and she
became pregnant. She decided she
wanted to have an abortion and her
husband got an injunction to stop
her.
Mrs. Lewis had the abortion after the case went to
the U.S. Supreme Court and her right to control her
own body was upheld, said Shelley Spivack, who
worked on the case for the American Civil Liberties
Union.
"It is the woman who goes through labor and bears
the child. It is oftentimes the woman who then is
responsible if the husband changes his mind and doesn't
want to support or love that child," she said.
Spivack said a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court ruling
struck down a Missouri law that required a woman to
get her husband's consent before she could have an
abortion. That opinion established that a woman's
rights to privacy and to control her own body couldn't
be balanced against a husband's, she added.
However, Moss said there should be some balance,
so the wishes of a husband who wants the child would
be heard.
"The ultimate scenario in this is the ultimate
domination of a man over a woman, because if you say.
he's got rights, then he's got the right to make her have
a child or to make her have an abortion," Spivack said.
"At this time, as long as the right to abortion exists,
then the right remains to the women to make that
choice."
"She talks about men dominating women, but then-
the women are dominating men, if they can take their
child away from them. That's the way I look at it, 44
Moss said.
The two spoke at a program as part of the annual
convention of the State Bar of Michigan.
JULIE HOLLMAN/Daily
Rock Group Tesla poses with a sculpture of the man for who they named their band. R. Farrington Sharp, the
sculptor of the piece stands to the left of the art and John Wagner, the organizing teacher of the projest,
stands to the piece's right.
Tesla promotes inventor
by Kristin Palm
and Albert Lin
Heavy metal group Tesla was
more than an hour late for its
appearance at North Engineering
Library, but its fans didn't seem to
mind.
They were just glad to see the
band at all.
But Tesla didn't come to the
library to rock the house. Instead,
the band appeared to promote a bust
of its namesake, inventor Nikola
Tesla, a rival of Thomas Edison.
The band, which released its first
album - "Mechanical Residents"
- in 1985, had never made a
promotional appearance for the
inventor before.
Dexter third grade teacher John
Wagner and 97 students in his
class, though, managed to enlist the
band's help to finance and promote
the bust.
Wagner and the band members
are currently lobbying the
Smithsonian, by petition, to house
the bust. They have already
accumulated more than 1,500
signatures, and by setting up tables
at future concerts, hope to collect
100,000.
If the bust ever reaches its
designed destination, it would be a
dream come true for Wagner.
Having first heard of Tesla 45 years
ago, Wagner "discovered a
monumental secret" - Tesla's
genius - in 1983 after reading the
inventor's biography. From that
moment on, Wagner said, he has
"pursued (his) effort in getting
Tesla recognized."
Yesterday, as fans of both the
band and the inventor waited for the
group's arrival, they discussed their
reasons for coming to see this
unusual appearance.
"I'm not a diehard fan, but I
really enjoy their music," said engi-
neering junior Craig Cruzen. "They
are not like other heavy metal
bands. They seem to have a purpose
to their music."
LSA sophomore Daryl Ashbeck,
on the other hand, is a diehard fan.
"I was lying in bed this afternoon
and this guy calls me and says
Tesla is coming to North
Engineering Library," he said. "I
was in the shower and over here in
10 minutes."
Other types of fans also came to
see the group's appearance. Robert
Okelejhas, for instance, came from
Monroe to view the bust and see
the band.
"We've been interested in
(Nikola) Tesla's work for a long
time, and as a matter of fact, it has
led to our own business," said
Robert, who manufactures
centrifugal pumps with his brother,
Eli.
See TESLA, page 10
Bush asks for funds to help
Nicaraguan opposition
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration
formally asked Congress on Thursday for $9 million to
help the election campaign of Nicaraguan opposition
candidate Violeta Chamorro, declaring, "We are at a
watershed in Nicaragua."
In a message to congressional leaders asking for the
assistance, Secretary of State James A. Baker III called
the February 1990 election between Chamorro's
opposition coalition and incumbent Sandinista president
Daniel Ortega "a rare chance for us to support
democratization in a totalitarian society."
Most congressional Democrats were still evaluating
the proposal, but initial reaction was positive. After a
White House meeting with President Bush, former
President Jimmy Carter - who will be an observer at
the elections - said he would support the initiative.
The administration wants to rush legislation through
Congress in the next week or so in order to make
money available in time for Nicaragua's one-month
voter registration season in October.
Baker said Chamorro has a chance to win, but added,
"We shouldn't be under any illusions about the battle
they face." He said the Sandinistas would use all
resources at their command - the army, the secret
police, the government bureaucracy and mass
organizations - to further their political fortunes.
Despite the odds, the opportunity to install a new
government is a rare opportunity, he said. The election
"pits an under-financed democratic coalition against an
authoritarian state."
The aid package would transfer $5 million to the
National Endowment for Democracy for activities like
election monitoring, voter registration, get-out-the vote
efforts and party-building. NED, a private foundation
crated by Congress in 1982 to support democratic
elections worldwide, has undertaken similar efforts in
Poland, the Philippines, Panama and Chile.
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