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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 16, 1995)
EDITORIAL Notification bill bad public policy Abortion foe* won a victory in tho legislature last week when the Oregon Senate passed a measure that would require physicians to notify a minor’s parents 4fl hours before before performing an abortion for her, Senate Bill 1126. the parent notification bill, now heads to the House for consideration, l*he bill disregards two simple facts: Laws and legis lators cannot force children to talk with their parents, and teenage girls do not become pregnant by themselves, Parent notification is flawed and it will not work Parents and their children must have a loving rela tionship before healthy communication r an take place. If‘Ki legislators think thev i an mandate parents and chil dren to talk to one another, they are naive and wrong. Dead wrong. Young women with unwanted pregnancies will still find ways to have abortions without parontial notifica tion It may mean going to a state with less restrictive laws, finding a “back-alley** abortion, or trying to < on* duct an abortion themselves, but they will find a way Some argue that pro abortion parent notifu ation is con sistent with laws requiring parental consent for med it al procedures given to children. Some schools aren't allowed to give out aspirin to students without permis sion from Mom or Dad Howevoi abortion is different Because of the i and moral upheaval surrounding the procedure, it can not be lumped with Tylenol and tonsillectomies Parent notification would fort** a pregnant I eon into a potentially volatile situation She might not have a great relationship with her parents, but that won't matter Unless the young woman is in danger of abuse or if one of her parents is drug-addicted or mentally ill, the bill requires her to tell them. In addition, the bill does not require a young man to inform his parents that his girlfriend is terminating their pregnancy As is too often tho case, the responsibility and stigma fall only on her shoulders If reducing abortions is an honest objective, why are men left out of the equation? The goals of the bill are to radut e abortions and to help (fumale) minors got support during a critical point in their lives, said bill proponent Sen. Stan Bunn. K Newberg. Unfortunately, neither goal will be accomplished by SB 1126. In a perfect world, minors wouldn't get pregnant, and teen abortions would be a non-issue. However, ours is a less than-idoal world, and children do get pregnant. Minors must be allowed to make informed choices a tout what happens with their bodies. They shouldn’t be required to tell anyone. Parent notification is a bad idea that will hurt young women and reduce their reprodui tivo options. More important. SB 1126 shows us that as "enlight ened” as we have become about women’s equality, a male dominated government can still chain the next genera tion of Amori* an women to the virgin-whore labels of their foromothers. Once again, young men receive the message: you are not responsible for your penis. Oregon Daily PO 001 tuGt’* CrftfGOW*?4£-3 Tfw O*gon Qmty f pu**M>d datfy Monday fhrowgih * ?*ia* dyr**g »>* %chooi ¥«» <md T umiiay &f*J Thurldtty Outing t.'N* lumm* t>y fNft Oregon Da^V ! m«r#MI Pubfcarfvrg Co . Inc «t ffm UMtrtVMty ot Or«gon. f kryantf. Oregon Th« ( -*'«,*« ope«al«t “xJeperKlentjy o* I'm lM*ver**Ty «n*h oHkoi a! 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De* ■ .1 M - oOD. /'‘vxfta \v- .*■%&..■■■ Sr»*■■? .■» At**n Ta.*a ♦*••<?, IV ad Jets Mo > MrCarta Jorv^Hr Roland Clayton Yaw NtwftfOCtfn 346 5511 346-*51* D*»pi«y AdvtKHtmg CUsitfied Adv«fti»ing 34*3712 346 4343 BOB Dole for president Senator Dole * prefer red version, as refined by Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, contains pro visions repealing the existing prohi bition against cancer causing cheml cal residues tn processed foods, pro vtcling new defense* lor companies accused of breaking pollution laws, and nullifying existing statutory and court-ordered deadlines for enforc ing environmental laws Tim sew roHK Tines rut hay atkii. h, tm TAere vou Aave it; the choice is 'burs. >>v/ VCS III HAVE E CA'YCtR. ■ OPINION Conservatism has different meanings -Jfc..i Brian Womai k On a (Jimpus that has been i ailed the Berkeley of the Northwest, it's no won der that the definition of conser vatism has Ix-en skewed. This is a campus where the leading candidates argue over who is more of a feminist This is a campus where a magazine by the name of the Oregon Com mentator can i*‘ lulled conserv ative 1 i an understand the ( (infu sion On this kind of campus, anyone or anything that isn't lib eral or leftist is i onsidered con servative I often see jieople (lull just .ilwint anywhere else would !h* < onsidered (entrist or moder ate. hut here they art* thought to l«* on the right But |us! bee oust* you're right of left doesn't mean you're a conservative Here, it usually means you're actually a lit>ertar ian Yet libertarianism has a much tighter definition of what government's role is than con servatism. l-et's draw some of those dis tinctions. 1 proudly classify myself as a conservative This classification c arries over even when I'm off campus or off-Gugene for that matter As a conservative. I believe the government needs to gel off the hac ks of Americ ans — he they property owners, business owners or parents |ust like a majority of voters in November, I believe government has grown way beyond where it needs to be. On these kinds of issues, the Commentator, libertarians and I probably see eye to eye. But. as many know. I don't believe people should be allowed to do anything and everything their passions might lake them Thai's why I'll gladly stand up in favor of o constitutional amendment against child pornography or help limit the prevalence of the horrors of abortion, That's why I'll gladly stand up against Italiot measures that allow doctors to assist in their patient’s suicide Libertarians, especially on the issue of life, usually don't agree with these tenets. They’re social liberals. Conservatives lielieve in a cer tain balance between making sure government doesn't do too much to intrude, and realizing that government has a place in keeping a sort of normalcy and values in place to help retain order in society However, libertarians don't subscribe to this bniame to the degree (,oiiscrv.it i \ i-s do Whether it be legalizing pot or putting the brakes on restoring values to culture, the approach of "freedom in everything" draws a distinct line between the two ideologies As we ms’ in the Commentator, ideas of free-thought and free inarkot are given free reign But the ideals of social conservatism are not given much of a voice As further evidence of liber tnriunism at the Commentator . Erl Carson, the former news edi tor of the publication, now works for a national libertarian maga zine Yet. the Commentator contin ues to say in its mission state ment, "Our main purpose is to show students that a political philosophy of conservatism, is an intelligent way of looking at the world." I'm not saying this to whine Iws a use my point of view is not gracing the pages of what is gen erally agreed to be the most hat ed institution on campus. And believe me, it's not because the Commentator attacks the Emerald. People should know by now that l am more thick-skinned than that. I'm simply sick. and very tired of l**ing lumped in with the lib ertarians on campus of which the Commentator is the stan dard-bearer for lake the latest issue of the Oregon Voire . It did a semi dec ent job of parodying the Commentator for the Oregon Conimonhater as it called it). In it, the writers made frequent ref erences to Rush f.imbuugh as being a major influence on the real Commentator's writers. Rush l.imbaugh. though, is a c onservative. He's is pro-life, lie's no libertarian. Despite his abrasive style, he has been called by the nation’s premiere c onservative c ommentary maga zine, National Review, the "leader of the opposition " As mentioned before, this doesn't mean 1 disagree with everything the Commentator prints. Litre rtarianism can often swerve into conservative ideulo gtes On the issue of its tone, I would contend that at times the Commentator has become so shrill, it has damaged its posi tion as a serious commentary magazine The "Hate" issue was probably a good example of this. Believe me. satire is something I love Orwell is a favorite of mine. Hut there's a fine line between satire and just "going off for the seeming mere joy of it. Yet beyond just the pages of the Commentator, students and faculty alike need to realize that just because someone is to the right of the left, it does not mean they're conservative. Daring to say that multiculturaiism has some flaws or capitalism is a good thing is not necessarily indicative of conservatism. The only thing that i an be said for sure is that they're not liberals Being truly conservative means embracing social conser vatism. For only upon those great ideals will our country tru ly progress in liberty. Brian Womack is a columnist for the Emerald.
