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Show , Ten O'Clock Whistle by David Fleisher What kind of a law is this?.... I'd like to know who came up with the big idea that a pregnant woman has to tell her husband if she decides she wants to get an abortion. He (or she) must have been either drunk in some bar when the idea came up, or have the mental capacity of a three-year-old. In either case, the idea turned into a state law ... and it stinks. , Case in point: A Salt Lake woman, married and pregnant, decided for personal reasons last week that she wanted an abortion, but a federal judge, citing a Utah law, ruled she had to inform her husband of her intentions, or at least make an honest attempt to do so. The woman tried to call her husband on the telephone, twice, letting the phone ring ten times each time she called. The husband apparently wasn't home, and the wife had the abortion. This law pertaining to abortion will more than likely be tried in court some time in the future. The husband, according to the wife, is not exactly what you would call an upstanding citizen. He is reportedly a wife-beater. For the sake of argument, let's assume the -wife is telling the truth and nothing but the truth. Can you imagine what the husband would do if his wife called up one day and said out of the clear blue sky: "Honey, I hate to tell you this, but I'm pregnant and I want an abortion," You'd probably find the woman cemented to the bottom of the Great Salt Lake, or worse yet, spread over a three-mile area in the south side of the city. Now, let's assume, again, just for the sake of argument, that the woman is lying. Maybe her husband is an upstanding citizen, that he's faithful, and that he takes out the garbage every day. The wife calls him up one day at the office and says, "Honey, I hate to tell you this, but I'm pregnant and I want an abortion." The husband, a gentleman of the past, micht now chain his wife to the back of his car and drag her all over town, thereby making him a wife-beater. In the first place, why should a woman be legally obligated to tell her husband, particularly if he beats her up, how she wants to control her own body? It's her body, not his; it's her baby, and his, but she's the one who has to carry the little baby-poo around for nine months, not him. Let's look at the other side of the coin. What happens if he gets pregnant? Should he be obligated to tell his wife he wants an abortion? And if she should respond by saying, "Look, you lousy rat, I want that baby!" Then what's the poor guy going to do? He's in a real fix, isn't he? If he goes through with the abortion, the wife could be so incensed, she might hire a couple of hit men to knock him off... for good. I don't really like the idea of abortion very much, but it might be better than bringing an unwanted and unloved child into the world. The central question here, though, is who should have the final say over abortion: the woman, the boyfriend, the husband, or the government? I think women are smart enough these days to make rational decisions on their own. Of course, there are those who say that the pregnant woman should have thought about the consequences of her actions during that night of passion. There may be some truth to that argument, but the fact of the matter is, human nature just doesn't work that way. There are a lot of drive-in movies in this country, and they will probably be around for a long time to come. ; As I walk up Main Street, I hear the Ten O'Clock Whistle. |