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Show ADO nil 0 J: Opinions, emotions 7 dj" O L. ' 'a BY SHEILA WOLF Assistant Managing Editor (Editor's Note: This is the final part of a series on abortion.) Dr. Stanford Rees of the Utah State Leg'is:ature proposed Bill 166 for voluntary sterilization to be performed upon written signification, significa-tion, and Bill 117 to liberalize abortion laws. According to Dr. Rees the sterilization act would alleviate the burden on those lower low-er economic groups having no money cr transportation to go elsewhere for the operation. This bill failed by two votes. The second bill, S. 117, included the provisions: If a woman wanted an abortion, she must signify her intention with a written request. The request would be presented to a board of three doctors in the particular hospital where she wanted it done. Reasons would be for: Impairment of the mother's moth-er's physical or mental health, incest, rape, or if the baby were deformed. ". . . many young girls end up down here out of sheer rebellion,-, their parents. Getting pregnant used to be a serious problem, r liberalized laws it will not be so difficult to solve." ' This bill generated no support. Dr. Rees felt most objections came when the additional phrase "mental health" was included. Most people, according to Dr. Rees, feel the clause opens the abortion field Iimitlessly, which he says is not true. Psychiatric Viewpoint But between 60 and 70 percent of all abortions performed in Denver, Den-ver, Colorado, are done for psychiatric psy-chiatric reasons. Dr. Glenn Johnston, a psychiatrist psychi-atrist practicing in Salt Lake and also a faculty member at the University, Uni-versity, said therapeutic abortions abor-tions on psychiatric grounds are "next to impossible to get in Utah. Yet there is a high suicidal tendency ten-dency if abortions are not performed, per-formed, although overall statistics statis-tics show suicide is relatively low in pregnant women." According to Dr. Johnston, psychiatrists psy-chiatrists must take into consideration consider-ation the well-being of the family and the mental condition of the mother when a woman seeks Doctors Have Guilt Feelings "The physician gets into a dilemma dil-emma then," Dr. Johnston said. "We are trained to save life; to interrupt life goes against natural impulses. Some doctors have more guilt feelings than the women." He said follow-up studies done in Sweden, where laws are minimal, mini-mal, showed few women were psychologically disturbed after they had an abortion. Most experienced ex-perienced no guilt. He said most healthy, strong mothers do not usually want an abortion, although if the mother has six children she may not want another child even though she herself suffers from no mental men-tal anxieties. But those recommended for therapeutic abortions usuauy nave mental problems, showing evidence evi-dence that they "have barely been able to hang-on." Opposition from Western Culture Dr Sandra Caruthers, of t h e Department of History, feels most opposition to liberalized laws arose from the Judaeo-Christian heritage heri-tage of Western society. The argument argu-ment is largely generated over when life actually begins. Having studied in the Orient, Dr Caruthers explains that even in Japan they do not like abortion, abor-tion, but prefer contraceptive methods instead. She feels that with the growing transition in morality and religious concepts, new social ethics will have to be worked out. "Other values will have to be established. In terms of a real breakdown, it is not immoral, im-moral, but it does run against the grain of prevailing morality." Most churches are undecided about the abortion problem. Clarence Clar-ence I. Waters of the Salt Lake Christian Science sect, said his church had never issued a specific speci-fic directive governing the dilemma. dilem-ma. Rev. Austin Meekins of the Faith Baptist Church in Salt Lake said: "Abortion is a delicate, serious seri-ous area to discuss or legislate into social matter. I believe it is necessary in few and limited cases such as rape and the woman's emotional stability." Rev. Meekins stated that he does not speak for his congregation, congrega-tion, as the Baptist Church has never issued a statement on the problem. The individual is left to decide for himself. LDS, Catholic Approach The Roman Catholic and LDS faiths are similar to one another in their approach to the problem. One spokesman for the LDS Church said: "We do not approve of modification, expansion, or liberalization lib-eralization of the abortion laws." The Roman Catholic faith follows a similar ruling. People involved in the prostitution prosti-tution trade are affected by the moral and legal hassle since their business usually discourages pregnancy. preg-nancy. S., mother of two, is a prostitute working on West Second Sec-ond South. She said when girls do get pregnant the pimps usually find an abortionist for them or else they use a catheter and perform per-form it themselves. Once a psychology major at the University, she felt liberalized abortion laws would partially dry up the prostitution trade because "many young girls end up down here cut of sheer rebellion against their parents. Getting p, used to be a serious matter It-liberalized It-liberalized laws it will not be: difficult to solve." She felt abortion was air murder, "And I've got tt so I must not believe in it" B., a former prostitute, s; mostly she agreed with's,; though many prostitutes it: "I feel this way," she said" you go out and kick a pup cat, you kill the babies teit? That's murder; abortion is :: same way." Wtih so much debate, oi r sides of the scientific and re! circles, legislators and proa tion groups should first at? the question of when lite doe gin and what, If any, are t herent rights of an unborn t Alternating or external st 1 practices without tenable, b I foundations tampers with i : j terminism and casuality per: ( ing the universe. For every cause there is a. g sequent effect (casality) aii: ther outer individual events : individual human choices it: caus ,edbut are the resit antecedent conditions (defc ism). Someone has yet to we: consequences of alternate cietal foundations without? chologically acclimating e perception of those ctwp Oswald Spengler wrote: as we know about the the future ... one thing is 1 tain: the moving forces i : future will be none other t: those of the past the t-the t-the stronger, healthy i race, will to property, ai; er. And hovering ineffectual! it all will be dreams of i happiness, and peace " ' " will remain dreams fcm . |