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Page 5 Portland Observer JULY 13,1989
U.S.SUPREME COURT ABORTION
RULING
While the U.S. Supreme Court in
its ruling July 3 did not overturn the
landmark 1973 decisions giving
women the legal right to an abortion.
United Methodists on both sides of
the issue voiced strong sentiments on
what the ruling means for women
and the United Methodist church.
The Supreme Court turned the
clock back 20 years on a woman's
right to choose, said the Rev. Thom
White W olf Fassett, general secre­
tary of the denomination's Board of
Church and Society. He denounced
the court’s ruling on Webster v. Re­
productive Services, calling key pro­
visions a weakening of Roe v. Wade
and “ intentional efforts to control
women and their reproductive rights.”
The burden of these provisions,
he said, will fall most heavily on
poor minority women who often rely
on public hospitals as the primary
source of health care and abortions.
“ The rulings are highly discrimina­
tory, he added.
One of the key rulings in the
Webster case prohibits public hospi­
tals’ or other tax-supported facili­
ties’ performing abortions not neces­
sary to save life, even if no public
funds are used.
Public employees, including doc­
tors, nurses and other health-care pro­
viders, are banned from performing
or assisting an abortion not neces­
sary to save a woman’s life. The high
court also said medical tests must be
performed on any fetus thought to be
20 weeks old to determine viability,
according to Ellen Kirby, assis­
tant general secretary of the Sec,:
of Christian Social Relations of
women’s Division o f the denomil
tion’s board of Global Ministrie.
allowing states to regulate their owr.
abortion laws “ provokes a patch-
work quilt of expense and hardship
of travel in search of health care.”
She said the division will step up
educational and action strategies
within states and with conference
leaders “ to support the availability
of safe and legal medical care for all
women."
Overturning Roe v. Wade would
have been a “ simplistic move,” by
the Supreme Court, said J. Robert
Nelson, director of the Institute of
Religion, Texas Medical Center,
Houston, and a United Methodist
layman. Following the decision, Mr.
Nelson, an ecumenist and theolo­
gian, expressed surprise at the court’s
decision to shift “ so much power to
the states.”
“ It will no doubt be a confusing
situation for the state legislatures
because it puts the responsibility of
making moral decisions in their hand,’ *
he said, referring to the new respon­
sibility states will have in defining a
fetus a human being at the moment
of conception. The question of when
life begins is a matter that even the
religious community has yet to inter­
pret.
Mr. Fassett said he blames the
Supreme Court for “ sidestepping its
moral responsibility” by leaving the
decision of limiting abortions up to
the state. Determining when life begins
" is out of the domain of state legisla­
tors,” he added.
Their doing so, he said, is to pit
one “ communion, religious commu­
nity or religious philosophy over the
other.”
But according to James Heidin-
ger, executive director of Good News,
an evangelical caucus, the high court’s
decision to allow states to regulate
abortion is consistent with the church’s
Social Principles, which denounce
abortion on demand.
But while the United Methodist
Thurch is sending out the right signal
n abortion, he said, * ‘it has not made
y attempts to reinforce its posi-
i.” Mr. Heidinger hailed the
rt’s decision as “ a clearly posi­
tive one for anti-abortion advocates.”
Whether or not the Supreme Court
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overturned or affirmed Roe v. Wade
mattered little to United Methodist
layman Steven Wissler, Ephrata, Pa.,
director of the Task Force o f United
Methodists on Abortion and Sexual­
ity. He said the mission of the two-
year-old (ask force continues to be
“ aw akening
U nited
Methodists...helping the church deal
with its inability to minister to the
people in our pro-abortion society.”
The Webster decision, Mr. Wissler
said, “ will put more pressure on the
United Methodist Church to do what
it should have been doing all alo n g -
ministering to and supporting women,
so they do not have to choose the
abortion option...a death option.”
The Methodist Church, he said,
has been wrapped up in the political
side of the abortion issue. “ That debate
has smothered any attempts to ad­
dress abortion as a real life spiritual
issue.”
The denomination’s official state­
ment on abortion supports ‘ ‘ the legal
option of abortion under proper
medical procedures” if “ justified)
by the tragic conflicts of life. ’ ’ Abor­
tion as a form of birth control is
condemned.
Mr. Fassett called that statement
weak because it ‘ ‘assumes that those
making a decision on abortion are
Christian or are guided spiritually.
The world can read us as condoning
abortion,” he added.
Justice Harry A. Blackmun, a
United Methodist layman and author
of the Roe v. Wade opinion, in an
impassioned dissent said the court
“ implicitly invites every state legis­
lature to enact more restrictive abor­
tion regulations...to provoke more
and more test cases, in hope that
sometime...the court will return the
law o f procreative freedom to the
severe limitations that generally
prevailed in this country before
Jan.22,1973,” The Roe v. Wade was
issued.
Kemp Announces $89.2 Million In
Grants For Transitional Housing For
The Homeless
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp today an­
nounced that HUD is awarding a total of $89.2 million in grants for the
Transitional Housing Demonstration Program. The grants will enable
private non-profit and governmental sponsors to develop 131 projects
nationwide for homeless people capable of making the transition to inde­
pendent living.
Secretary Kemp said: “ President Bush and I want to help end the tragedy
of homelessness, and pave the way to housing, job training, education and
opportunity for the future. The Transitional Housing Program, which is part
of the McKinney Act, will help achieve this goal. President Bush and I have
called for full funding of this and other McKinney Act programs in the fiscal
1990 budget.”
The $89.2 million in funding, the fourth round of funding for the
Transitional Housing program since the McKinney Act was signed, in­
cludes $35.6 in grants for 57 projects for homeless families with children,
$25.2 million for 30 projects for the mentally handicapped, and $28.4
million for 44 projects projects for other homeless.HUD received a total of
399 applications for this round, with grant requests totaling $290 million;
131 of the 201 projects deemed approvable are being funded.
Secretary Kemp Stops Flawed Land
Development Program
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp announced
today his intention to terminate the Title X Land Development Mortgage
Insurance Program, a program which authorized HUD to insure mortgages
and finance development of building sites, but is riddled with abuse. About
50 percent of all approved loans under the program have defaulted, at a cost
of $90 million to the government
Upon thorough review of Title X, Secretary Kemp has chosen to publish
a proposed rule to terminated the program due to the enormity of the losses
incurred, high patterns o f abuse, and the failure of the program to benefit the
needy. O f the 58 loans insured under the Title X program since 1977-
valued at approximately $500 m illion-25 have defaulted. The Department
estimates losses on defaults to date to be approximately $90 million.
Secretary Kemp directed an examination of the program and issued a
directive to reform the program in April, 1989. As a result of initial findings,
he requested that the Office of Inspector General audit the entire program;
investigate related consultant activity; and examine the circumstances
surrounding the processing of a loan for one of the recently approved
developments, McNair Farms.
“ I promised to root out every occurrence o f inefficiency, misuse of
government monies, and fraud in the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, “ Kemp said . “ This is another step in meeting the reform
agenda that President Bush and I have proposed for HUD.”
Secretary Kemp also announced that all Title X projects now under
consideration, but which have not received a legally binding commitment,
will be frozen and all application fees returned. Further, all projects that
have received firm commitments and initial endorsements will be examined
to determine whether fraud or misrepresentation warrant the denial of
government insurance.
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Publication Helps
Address Racism
On Campus
Racial incidents are on the rise on
the nation’s campuses but a new book.
How to Sponsor a Minority Cultural
Retreat offers a unique approach in
getting White and Minority students
talking to each other.
Ethnic courses, anti-racist poli­
cies are traditional strategies used by
campus administrators to broaden stu­
dent awareness but according to au­
thor, Dr. Charles Taylor, “ these
approaches while needed usually end
up talking at students or dictating
behavior from the topdown with
limited student input” .
“ W hat’s missing” , says Taylor
“ is personal interaction” . A Minor­
ity cultural retreat provides this per­
sonal contact by creating an environ­
ment for Minority and White stu­
dents to communicate about cultural
and racial issues in a secluded setting
that is free of major distractions.
Students are able to discuss, debate,
and contribute in ways that may help
them discover, share and broaden
their awareness of themselves and
understand the importance of oppos­
ing racism.
Through structured activities,
speakers and small discussion groups,
students focus on objectives which
challenge their beliefs and allows
them to actually experience Minor­
ity culture. Comments like “ I Had
no idea...” are common during the
retreat. Even “ free time” serves an
important purpose because partici­
pants are required to spend half of it
with someone of a different race.
When students return to campus
they usually end up more energized
and willing to work against racism
throughout the year. That’s why
many people hail athe Minority cul­
tural retreat as the human relations
activity for the 90’s.
This new updated publication How
to Sponsor a Minority Cultural Re­
treat allows campuses to duplicate a
successful retreat. The book features
an actual agenda, human relation type
activities that get people communi­
cating and a resource chapter that
includes films, videos, ethnic food,
cultural lest-nearly everything needed
to plan your retreat.
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