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Show THB um\TERSITY JOl.:JRNAt • SOUTHE~ :uTAH ~1VERSIT¥ • WEDNESDA¥, MAY 20, 1998 I: 1r YW'R£ VERONICA GARNER I OPINION be, 1-l(:r E-M~\L, \>L0.2:>€. LO& ~T So T\-\~T ~sn-..a.E:R ?E.o~Lt:: COMMENTARY SUU's Splash Mountain Although I'm generally quite a cheerful and fun-loving ~al, there are some things in life that really annoy me: screammg babies in church, people with delayed reaction at a stop lightgreen means go, people-disappointing series. finales (hello, Seinfeld) and waiting for my 11 :00 a.m. appointment at the doctor's office and finally getting called in at two-just to get blood pressure taken. OK, so waiting annoys me, especially when it involves waiting in line. It's registration time again, so of course, everyone is stressed about finals along with getting into the classes they need for next year. As you may well know, there are specified time frames and designated days set aside for students to register in alphabetical order. This system is intended to ease the pressure of so many students registering all at once. That was a good idea on the registrar's part. However, here's an observation. There arc six windows at the Registrar's Office, and most of the time only one is open, and the re are 20 people waiting in line. There is another person at her desk, eating a snack and kind of milling around-her window is closed. So only one person is available to help the crowd of students waiting to register. Why is this? Six windows, two workers, one open window and 20 people waiting. Do the math. Another observation I've made lately is the same scenario appLies to the Cashier's Office. Six windows, two workers, one open window and people waiting. Again, do the math. And if you need help, consult Professor Cotts-located in the Science Center, room 209. The funny part is there are two cashiers behind their closed windows, doing nothing but gossiping to ea~h other. The one cashier who is available is on the phone handling someone else's account, while I stand in line and wait to pay a stupid $2 drop fee. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm sure many happ~ marriages and short-term relationships have come about on this campus as a result of standing in line to register for classes. It does offer a great social opportunity. However, we are forgetting t~e fact that while standing in line for an hour or longer to register, those students might have been late for or missed a class. How does that benefit the student? Hello, people, this isn't Disneyland! And once I finally reached the registration window, it wasn't exactly Splash Mountain, but from judging the size of the line, I had been fooled. I didn't have my student I.D., or any form of identification; therefore, couldn't do anything without it. All I could do was leave, come back later, and attempt to register again. College is fun, isn't it? Veronica Garner is a sophomore communication major from Duchesne, Utah . yoDllliJAL SOUTHERN i,TAll UNlVl!RSITY PROFESSIONAL STAFF ANO DESK PHONE NUMBERS: Edltor Larry &ker 586-7751 Campus Editor Jim Robin.s on 586-1997 Consulting Sports Editors Nell Gardner 586-7753 Brett Jewkes S86-7752 S'IVOENT STAFF ANO DESK PHONE NUMBERS: Auodttc Editors VCJ'Ort!U Gamer 865·8225, 586· 7750 Brandon Rhodes 586- 7750, S86-1992 AP Wltt Editor K.imi Egan 586·7759 Copy Edltor Tf•tu Tew S86-5488 Photo Edltor John Cuenler 586-7759 Atu Editor Anna Tu.pin S86-5488 Sports Editor Ch.Id Lamb 865-8443 Ad•crtWni M.tn•gcr Miggie Neisen 586-77S8 REPORTERS' DESK 586-7757 The University fournal 11 published e•cry Monday, Wedncsday and Friday of the academic year u • publicat ion of Southern Uuh Unlvcr,hy, Ju department of communication and the SUU Student Auociatlon. The •lcw• and opinion, apralcd In the /i,urnol uc thole of lndlvldual writ~ and do not ncccnarlly rdlcc:t 1hc opinion of thc /ouma/ or any cntll)' of the unlvcnlty, Lcttcn 10 the cdnor muSt be type.d and Include 1he name and phone number. Only the ".•me will be printed. Names will not be withheld under any cl~umsunccs and the editor rncrvcs editing privifcga. Lcttcn mwt be submitted by noon Fridays for Monday editions, Tuesday, for Wednesday edition, IJld Thursday, for Friday editlont. c,1,..nceo: Any lndlvldu•I with a grievance ap.lnu thc /ourno/ should direct sU<h p«>blcm lint '!' the editor. 1f unresolved. ilut grievance should then be din:ctcd to thc /oumal Stccri"' Committee, which Is chaired by Dr. Frain G. P.. non, .s86-7971. UofrasJt1 fo1U1Jal: O{ficcs In SUU Technology Building 003. Mail at SUU Box 938,4, Ced.Ir City, U11h S-4720. FAX 143SIS86·S487. E-mail addrtu: joumalOsuu.cdu ()PtuNTED ON R.ECYCUD PAPtl\. PlEASE IUCYCtE THIS COPY. MAGGIE GALLAGHER - COMMENTARY ...... Another bizarre case of pro-creation Eerily frozen in the very act of conception, at least until New York Chief Judge Judith Kaye ruled Thursday they are dead meat, five embryos lay in a vault in Mather Memorial Hospital on Long Island. Five microscopic question marks waiting for an answer: Are we property or are we human life? One thing -we know they are not is part of a woman's body. Years ago, Steven Kass ejaculated into a little cup while doctors removed his wife Maureen's eggs. The two pieces of themselves were mixed in the lab, and at the moment the sperm penetrated the egg, the act of union was halted-a developing human being's life put on hold. It was done with good intentions: the normal passionate human desire of a ma.rried couple to have children of their own-to fling thier very beings together into an unknown future. Several miscarriages and a divorce action later, the futre has arrived. Steven Kass has no desire to be turned into a dad, years after the divorce, by his ex-wife. Who can blame him? They had a deal, dammit, a contract drawn up by lawyers and signed by them both stating that, in the even of divorce, the "ownership" of the embryos would be determined by a property settlement, or else by the courts. What right does she have to renege now? Meanwhile, Maureen Kass' heart is breaking; what mother's wouldn't? Her babies, her wouldbe babies. At 40, they are her only shot (unlike her ex-husband) at having children of her own body. all these tiny possibilities will be destroyed, turned over to the scientists who created them, turned into experiments to be used and discarded, by oreder of the court. Traditionally men and women "consent" to parenthood by having sex. For men, the law still insists that "you play, you pay." You have sex, and you voluntarily assume the risk of 18 years of child support {not to mention creating one sad, father-hungry kid). But for women, Roe vs. Wade transformed having children from an act of the body to an act of the will: Now women (but not men) can decide not to be parents right up until the very moment the baby's head passes through the birth canal. The theory of human personhood enshrined in Roe can thus be best described as: If it's inside you, it's your body. If you can see it, it's your baby. But what happens when pregnancy takes place outside the woman's body? what do the Kasses as co-creators, or we as accomplices in these high-tech conceptions, owe these tiny beings? The court in this case might have done many things. It might have reuled, as a lower court did, that the true meaning of Roe is that precreation is a woman's choice. Maureen Kass has as much right as a naturally pregnant woman to decide the fate of her embryos. Or, striking a blow for gender neutrality, it might have ruled that both men and women have a right to decide whether they want to become parents. Instead the court said, in essece, unborn children are property, as properly subject to contract law as a set of dishes or the family bank account. Of course, what the law might h~ve said, but didn't, is this: These are developing human beings who didn't ask to be created, certainly not in this unconventional and (to them) dangerous manner. But they were conceived, sex or no sex, and they are human beings. So don't they have certain inalienable rights just like everyone else? The best interests of these developing children should be our highest priority. Trump the desires and the interests of the parents who have chosen to place them in this precarious position. Give them a shot at life and a family. Donate them to another infertile couple. Case dismissed. Maggie Ga11agher is a nationally syndicated columnist. |