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Page 4 Wedneiday dJuly 20,.1994
EDITOR IN CHIEF
James M. Nash
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
Patrick J. Javid
J. Samuel Lichtstein
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan.
Unsigned editorials present the opinion of a majority of the Daily's
editorial board. All other cartoons, signed articles and letters
do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Daily.
L ike many working parents, Jennifer Ire-
land enrolled her child in day care. This
common choice cost her the custody of her 2-
year-old daughter, Maranda.
Ireland, an LSA sophomore, is appealing
a recent Macomb County Circuit Court deci-
sion that awarded custody of her daughter to
Steven Smith, the child's father. Judge
Raymond R. Cashen argued that Ireland
would have to leave the child in day care too
much since she was attending college; he
favored giving custody to Smith, whose own
mother does not work outside the home and
might care for the child. Smith's legal team
has disingenuously made this an issue of
paternal rights.
The decision has far-reaching conse-
quences, implying that mothers who work or
invest in their education are not fit to care for
theirchildren. Thisgovernmentalmandate of
what is right for mothers and children is
dangerous, especially in light of the psycho-
logical research which shows that day care is
notnecessarily harmfulforchildren. Regard-
'U'Student Deserves
Custody of Child
Court case sets dangerous precedent
less of the effects, putting a child in day care
should not be the deciding factor in a custody
case. By the reasoning of this case, any blood
relative who stays home is better for the child
than a working mother. This logic is com-
pletely unfounded.
Like many of the other heavily publicized
custody cases, it also ignores the child's best
interests. Like Jessicain the DeBoer case two
years ago and "Baby Richard" in Illinois,
Maranda might be taken away from the only
parent she has ever known. The custody
decisionwasbasednotonwho canbe abetter
mother to her, but on who can stay home. This
evokes thesame issues sohotly debatedin the
1970s and '80s-of quality time vs. quantity
time, of mothers choosing to work or not.
Unfortunately, many women do not have
a choice about working. Especially if they
are single working mothers, they have no
other way to support themselves and their
children. And in the 1990s, it is more than
unreasonable to ask a woman to stay home
for a living. The only other option is welfare,
asystem so disastrousthateven some liberals
have talked of eliminatingit. Perhaps Ireland
would have been granted custody of the child
if she were willing to stay home and go
welfare (as many single mothers do).
The case originated when Ireland sued
Smith for parentalsupport andSmithcounter-
sued for custody. Thus the case also sets a
dangerous precedent for the large numbers of
fatherswhorefusetopaychildsupport: Moth-
ers who take the initiative to obtain support
for their children may find that deadbeat dads
win out in the end. Moreover, after the back-
lash over the "family values" issue in 190
the court decision sends the senseless mes-
sage that hard work and education are useless
values. Mothers -regardless of race, socio-
economic level or marital status-should be
encouraged to work hard and achieve a col-
lege education. In the long run, this is in the
child's best interests.
Jennifer Ireland had-the foresight to real-
ize that college is the best route to a go
income for her and her daughter. She shot
be commended for this choice instead of
punished.
Abortion security
Baseball strikes out
Clinton must not compromise on abortion Players must seize sport from the owners
The question is simple: Should abortion
services be covered in a health care re-
form package? Last week, the nation's Ro-
man Catholic bishops issued a much-her-
alded decree when they announced their ef-
fortstocampaign againstanyhealthcareplan
that includes abortion coverage in the stan-
dard benefits package. Meanwhile, 70 House
Democrats issued their own ultimatum by
proclaiming they would not vote for any
package that excluded abortion services. The
battle lines are being drawn.
Health care reform, if achieved, will be a
true accomplishment for both the president
and Congress, and should not be held hostage
to mere details. But abortion coverage is a
must for any health care bill coming out of
Congress, and health care reform will ulti-
mately fallshort without this crucialelement.
There are several convincing arguments
to support this position. First and foremost,
abortion in the United States is a constitu-
tional right granted to all women. Thus,
women have the right to chose, and this right
should be reflected in any health care legisla-
tion. While many argue that our government
should not pay for abortions, there is no
reason the government should not allow all
women equal access to their right to choose.
Secondly, abortion is clearly a subset of the
immense health care field. It is a medical
treatment that, legally, can only be adminis-
tered by certified physicians, and can only be where must be an evil curse on the Cleve-
performed in specific clinics or hospitals. I land Indians. For the first time since 1959,
Clearly, abortion and all pregnancy-related the Indians are involved in a pennant race.
services fall under the category of health Unfortunately, there might not be any con-
care. Proof of this fact can be found in clusion to this year's pennant races, and the
America's health insurance system today: upcoming season is threatened as well.
The vast majority of all health insurance As in the previous seven labor negotia-
plans cover abortion services. tions, Major League Baseball appears to be
If abortion is to be covered, the bill will heading toward a strike at the end of this
include a conscience clause which allows season. If this occurs, people will find it easy
individual physicians and hospitals to opt not to blame the players. It is difficult for most
to perform abortions. This clause is reason- Americans to comprehend the complaints of
able, as the government has no authority to baseball players when they have more than
decidewhichproceduresaspecificindividual enoughmoney topay the UniversityofMichi-
or private business performs. However, abor- gan tuition for a full four years. Unfortu-
tion wouldstillbe covered under every insur- nately, what is overlooked is that the eco-
ance plan offered throughout the country. nomic face of baseball changed (for better or
Those who argue against the inclusion of for worse) during the 1980s. Due to an enor-
abortion would make the American people mous influx of television revenues, baseball
pay a higher premium for their health insur- hasbeensaturated withextraordinary amounts
ance in order to receive abortion coverage. of cash. The question is, who should receive
This does little to solve the problem our it?
country faces today -those with money can The players organized and demanded to
obtain an abortion while those without money be paid a fair amount of these revenues.
must either give birth to an unwantedchild or Throughskillfulbargaining,players' salaries
receive an illegal, underground abortion. In skyrocketed. The owners now claim they
this scenario, then, only those socioeconomi- can't afford to pay the players their enormous
cally able Americans have access to their salaries and that if the system isn't changed,
constitutional right to choose. This system is baseball will be destroyed. The owners' solu-
completely ill-founded, and would only con- tion is to institute revenue sharing with the
tinue assuchifmanyconservatives and Catho- players and impose an NBA-style salary cap.
lic bishops have their way. This will mean a dramatic reduction in the
growth of salaries. Without the players there
would be no baseball, but the sport could still
exist easily without the owners.
Last week, 55 percent of United Airlines
stock was purchased by its employees, mak-
ing it the second-largest employee owned
firm in the country. A solution like this may
be the only thing that will save Major Leag
Baseball fromwork stoppages every time
collective bargaining agreement expires. An
apocalyptic strike date of Sept. 30 would
eliminate all post-season play including the
World Series, thereby robbing the owners of
75percentoftheir TVrevenue. Major League
Baseball would never be the same again.
The players should then form their own
league --without the owners - and distrib-
ute the revenue among themselves. Th
would be many logistical problems, but not -
ing more complex than the current labor
problems. The owners need to realize that
they are essentially along for the ride - the
owners can't take the field and deliver the
product (although the thought of George
Steinbrenner playing second base for the
Yankees is quite amusing!). Unfortunately,
the owners don't seem to realize this a
baseball looks headed for another work sto
page. That is, unless the players manage their
own league and take the game of baseball
back where it rightfully belongs. Once again,
there will be no pennant fever in Cleveland.