4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 22, 1998




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420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by
students at the
University of Michigan

';-:

JOSH WHITE
Editor in Chief
ERIN MARSH
Editorial Page Editor

Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All
other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
FROM THE DAILY
25 yearsof Roe
Abortion rights still need protection

NOTABLE QUOTABLE,
'It's an anniversary celebrating women's
liberation - standing up and taking charge.'
- LSA first-year student Amber Ying, on today's
25th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision
PURPLE HERRING CONVE NE C
tr I
/0W CAW wE MONoPOLIZE YOuI srUL r roDAY?"'
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

wenty-five years ago, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled against an anti-abortion law
i Texas, stating that it violated women's con-
stitutional right to privacy - arguably one of
the most important and controversial judicial
decisions in the last 30 years. Heated debate
surrounded the groundbreaking Roe v. Wade
ruling in 1973 and similar arguments persist
tdday. With the ruling, the court opened the
door for all women in the country to have an
absolute right to an abortion in the first three
months of pregnancy. Although women are
now able to have an abortion after the first
trimester of pregnancy, the open door that
sparked great controversy regarding the con-
ception of life has closed somewhat through
the years. Even though this anniversary calls
our attention to the decision, the University
community must not lose sight of the fact that
the pro-life movement has been quite suc-
cessful in implementing its agenda over the
past few years - a trend that must be curbed
to maintain women's rights.
On a national level, President Clinton has
been fairly successful in repealing anti-abor-
tion regulations and vetoing legislation,
passed by Congress, designed to scale back
the use of abortion. In 1993, Clinton lifted
'the "gag rule" that forbade doctors in feder-
ally funded clinics from mentioning abortion
as an option to patients. Recently, the presi-
dent vetoed a "partial-birth" abortion bill
because it lacked a necessary provision to
akIw the procedure if the mother's health
Sssin danger. A vital issue to many abortion
4voeates is the expansion of Medicaid to
'd abortion for women who cannot afford
h1ave one - the nation should not return to
ithe days of back-alley abortions.
Across the country, states have had more
success scaling back various aspects of
abortions - a trend that threatens women's
autonomy in making decisions about their

own bodies. By last October, 15 states had
outlawed late-term abortions. Michigan
should not be the next state on that list -
the state House of Representatives will take
up the issue when it reconvenes in February.
Pro-life forces are no longer attacking the
Roe v. Wade ruling but are trying to ban var-
ious abortion procedures, forcing the legal
boundaries to close in on the right to
choose. Many states have inappropriately
engaged in various scare tactics and have
placed obstacles, like waiting periods and
parental consent for minors, in the path of
women seeking abortions. This disturbing
movement is in large response to the politi-
cal pressure exerted by powerful conserva-
tive groups that are trying to legislate
morality. Medical decisions should not be
made by elected officials hiding behind a
political mask of family values but by
trained medical professionals.
Students groups will be holding several
events on campus today in support of abor-
tion rights. A rally will be held on the Diag
at noon and a speech will be delievered in
the Modern Language Building Auditorium
4 at 6 p.m. With the nation in the midst of
serious abortion rollback, it is important for
students to take part in these activities and
educate themselves about the controversial
issues surrounding women's right to choose.
The events celebrating the ruling's 25th
anniversary should serve as a reminder of the
significance of Roe v. Wade and be a wake-
up call to the community of the need to pro-
tect women's right to choose. Lawmakers
should make efforts to fight back against the
new, subtler assault on abortion. Abortion-
rights supporters must have a sense of
urgency and go on the offensive. The pro-
choice movement should make every effort
to prevent a further erosion of a woman's
right to her body.

Overdue payment
Witholding Medicare payments hurts patients
ast week, the federal government initi- The new system will compound the
ated a plan to recover money from problem. The targeted doctors will have
about 1,400 doctors and health care work- even less incentive to provide exacting
ers nationwide who have defaulted on gov- care to the patients. The government
ernment-guaranteed student loans. Under should not lose sight of physicians' main
they new system, the government will no purpose nor the goal of Medicare - to
longer reimburse the delinquent doctors for provide Americans with comprehensive
treating Medicare and Medicaid patients. health care. The new plan proves discor-
Proponents hope that the financial pressure dant with the purpose, potentially sacrific-
engendered by the tactic will force doctors ing the well-being of Medicare clients for
to remit the balance due on their loans. financial reward.
While the plan may help recover debts, it Admittedly, the new protocol does con-
likely will compromise the quality of health stitute a last-ditch effort by the Health
care for the 36 million Americans covered Resources and Services Administration -
by the nation's public health care network. the body that oversees the federal loan pro-
To ensure that Medicare clients' care does gram - to recover more than $107 million
not deteriorate, the government should owed by defaulters nationally. Each of the
repeal the system and seek alternative caregivers targeted has been contacted for
methods of addressing those who default on at least three years about his or her delin-
|4dent loans. quency and has been reported to credit
.:While the Hypocractic Oath generally bureaus and the Internal Revenue Service.
'Oligates doctors to treat all patients seek- Government collectors have also reported
k health care, Medicare patients still con- the defaulters to the Justice Department for
sttute an undesirable segment of the potential legal retaliation. Upon failing in
,pient population for many doctors. Under these avenues of collection, however, the
current financial system, doctors who government, which secured the loans, still
rbit Medicare patients must submit highly must repay the banks that issued the loans.
;c ailed descriptions of services to obtain Despite the financial bite made by
enimbursement from the Medicare pro- unpaid loans and the necessity to recover
;ram. Chronically slow with refunds, the the money due, the government should not
;$overnment forces many doctors and have adopted a plan that significantly jeop-
:health care providers to subsist for months ardizes the access of Medicare and
"without payment - even then, the pay- Medicaid clients - people who often can-
'nents often fail to cover doctors' entire not afford insurance alternatives to high-
'treatment expenses. Caregivers already quality care. Officials must re-examine the
have a financial incentive to nerform a imnlications of the latest collection strategy

Theme
semesters
are part of
'U' mission
TO THE DAILY:
I am delighted to see
that the Environmental
Theme Semester is off to an
excellent start, and I was
pleased to learn that last
Tuesday's kick-off event at
the Michigan Union was
attended to capacity -
although an unavoidable
out-of-town commitment
prevented me from partici-
pating myself. This success-
ful beginning speaks well of
our campus community and
of the faculty and students
who have organized the
semester.
Several years ago, the
document "A Michigan
Education - the guiding
document for the College of
LSA's Undergraduate
Initiative" asked the ques-
tion, "What would it mean to
live up to the ideal nature of
the college and the
University?" And the docu-
ment answered in part: "It
would mean a greater sense
on the part of students and
faculty alike of belonging to
a common enterprise, the
college itself beyond the
individual's discipline; it
would mean a daily environ-
ment bristling with intellec-
tual excitement."
The theme semesters,
which LSA launched as one
means of living up to this
goal, have done much to
establish that greater sense
of intellectual community;
the Environmental Theme
Semester carries this effort
to new levels. That the idea
for the semester originated
with faculty from two col-
leges - LSA and the
School of Natural
Resources and the
Environment - and that the
faculty organizing commit-
tee has worked collabora-
tively with a group of stu-
dents representing both col-
leges testifies to the success
of past semesters and to the
strengthening of our intel-
lectual community.
The University has
strong traditions associated
with understanding and pro-
tecting the natural environ-
ment; the organizers are to
be commended for directing
our attention once again to
a theme that can and should
engage many of us on a
number of different levels:
the theoretical, scientific
and analytical; the imagina-
tive and cultural; the practi-
cal, social, political and
economic. The
Environmental Theme
Semester accomplishes one
of the things that a great

encourage all to participate
as much as possible in the
semester.
LEE BOLLINGER
UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT
Engineering
needs student
participation
TO THE DAILY:
As the student govern-
ment of the College of
Engineering, our goals and
activities are focused on
improving the educational
and social environment that
exists onNorth Campus.
Each year we work very
closely with the other 41
Engineering societies and
the college administration to
conduct events such as
Welcome Day, the Slide
Rule Ball, Engineering
Week, Springfest and many
others designed to foster a
positive and productive
North Campus community.
In order for us to contin-
ue our efforts at improving
the college, we need the help
of each and every
Engineering student.
Fostering a close
Engineering community can
only be achieved through the
active participation of our
students in the various 42
Engineering societies. There
are endless opportunities to
get involved as well as end-
less benefits from your par-
ticipation. Many of the qual-
ities that company recruiters
search for in engineering
students, such as leadership
and teamwork skills, can be
gained from involvement in
our societies.
Students' participation in
the University of Michigan
Engineering Council, the
college student government,
will also provide them with
the opportunity to give feed-
back and input to the college
and University administra-
tions. We are working on
three different forums for
this semester that will
include the directors and
managers who are directly
responsible for issues such
as safety, lighting, parking
and the Pierpont Commons.
Each forum will provide the
members of UMEC with the
opportunity to ask questions
they have about these issues,
as well as the opportunity to
provide suggestions as to
how we might be able to
improve these aspects of the
college.
Ourgoal with the fora is
to improve the UMEC meet-
ings so that they become
interesting and more produc-
tive for each UMEC mem-
ber. We have similar goals
for the improvement of our
committees. There are many

I can ensure students that the
benefits they will receive
from participating will be well
worth the time and energy you
will give. More information
on UMEC can be found at
http://www.engin.umich.edu/s
oc/umec. If students have any
questions about UMEC or
other avenues to become
involved in the college, they
should contact me over e-mail
at bradj engin.umich.edu.
BRAD FINKBEINER
UMEC PRESIDENT,
ENGINEERING JUNIOR
Shaman Drum
deserves the
community's
support
To THE DAILY:
I am sorry to hear that
some students have been
inconvenienced at Shaman
Drum. As a faculty member
who has long used this
bookstore for course-
assigned texts, let me assure
Bill Briggs ("Bookstore
causes grief," 1/16/98)that I
do not do so in order to
impose an "immense bur-
den" on students. I place
orders exclusively through
Shaman Drum because I
want to support its survival
as an independent bookstore
and because I applaud the
important role it plays in the
intellectual and academic
life of this community. There
are many controversies sur-
rounding textbook ordering
in this town that might repay
a Daily investigation.
I would only point out
that back in the good old
days of "healthy competi-
tion" when I sent out my
book orders all over town,
there were endless hassles
and many complaints from
students, because each store
purchased only a fraction of
the total number of books
needed for the enrollment of
a course and students found
themselves running from
store to store looking for
required texts in stock. There
were never serious price
wars. Moreover, I would
think that the high cost of
books of which Briggs (and
others, myself included) com-
plain is hardly the fault of
Shaman Drum (and I dislike
the implication that they are
gouging you) - the price of
books reflects dominant
trends in publishing and sales
toward greater concentration
and monopoly control of
markets by national chains,
precisely the pressures that
squeeze independents like
Shaman Drum.

Frightening
predictions for
the future rarely
prove to be right
T his, in case no one's noticed, is
1998. 1997 ended about three
weeks ago.
Time has a funny habit of moving
forward. Thus, at no point in the near
future are we
going to return x .
to the grand"
golden days of
yore when
everything was
supposedly per-
fect.
Perhaps some-
one should tell
people who
insist on remind- MEGAN
ing us that $CHMPF
everything was PRESCRIPTIONS
once better and
that things just aren't going to be as
good when we graduate. This is a com-
mon lament of professors, experts,
time-hardened activists, old sages and
those who are moving on: pity those4l
who will only know a world of imper-
fection.
Yawn. We've heard this one before.
It's not getting us anywhere.
There is literally no way we can ever
experience those times Period. This is
now; this is what we know. We will
never know the revolutionary activism
that permeated college campuses in
the '60s or medical practice before
health care became a business. We're
not always sure who the enemy is any-
more. This is the information-intense,
MTV, post-O.J, plugged-in era.
As tragic as this may be, it is merely
a consequence of circumstance, and
there is not enough room in the time-
tripping DeLorean for every student in
the country to get back to where we
once belonged.
Yet until we're constantly told about
how marvelous those days were, we
never knew what we were missing,
because all we know is now. We're
looking toward the future for the shape
of our lives, not to what happened
before.
Ignorance of history may doom us to
repeat our grandparents' errors, bvt
knowledge of history has taught us
that the good old days weren't really
all that great anyway. Think of the
heroes and important events you've
ever held dear; your next thought is o
the disillusioning fact you learned
about the greatest thinkers and water-
shed events.
Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner.
Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the
Supreme Court. John Kennedy wasn't
the political force he is now identified
as. The '50s weren't entirely the warm
fuzzy home of conservatism. There
were - gasp - relatively normal col-
lege students in the 1960s.
Prejudice, injustice, selective memo-
ries and the tint of history have dis-
torted those times to the point where
they aresno longer what happened.
People sat around and complained
then, too. Restrictions and regulations
curtailed some freedoms then, too.
Things were different; there were dire
warnings about the bleak landscape to
come.
Yet the future came, and it went. I
wasn't so horrid, but older generations
still memorialized a time far superior
to what was happening simply because
they'd shaped it, lived through it -it

surely must have been better.
In truth, things changed and devel-
oped - some improved, some
declined. And while it might have been
better to live in a society that respected
officials and the government, for exam-
ple, modern skepticism has reveale
abuses of power and brought about
needed reforms. Instead of reaching the
boundary of creative thought, present-
day exploration has opened hundreds of
new frontiers. Science, technology and
academic thought have advanced extra-
ordinarily, providing conveniences and
modem necessities.
This is important to remember
before we become disgruntled and
wish we'd been born decades ago.
Without the choice to go back, we can
only go forward.
At a speech last week, Dr. Keith
Black, who was recently named a
"hero of medicine" by Time magazine
and is one of the country's leading
neurosurgeons, said he doesn't put
stock in doomsayers' predictions.
Things can't get any worse, Black
said. So they have to get better.
Hope escapes the grimness of the
first half of that statement: There's
work to be done, and it has to be done
by the people who are being told they
have nothing to look forward to.
Take the disillusioned at their word:
1998 has absolutely no redeeming

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