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
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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
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■ 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.