Commentary
Thursday, February 2, 1995 Page 5
Pro-choice motive not freedom
At the heart of the pro-choice
argument lies a dollar sign.
For the people of Lincoln, that
ugly truth began to surface about
a month ago, when Planned
Parenthood of Lincoln announced
that more than a dozen sub
contractors had withdrawn their
proposals to renovate Planned
Parenthood’s proposed abortion
clinic.
Upon the announcement,
Planned Parenthood’s executive
director, Chris Funk, attacked
Lincoln Right to Life, which had
urged city contractors not to bid
on the clinic.
“We are outraged,” cried Ms.
Funk, “by Lincoln Right to Life’s
recent tactics in harassing and
intimidating potential contractors.
They are threatening people’s
livelihood by threatening to cause
economic harm to their business.”
Funk’s sentiments were echoed
by Lois Hansen, Planned Parent
hood president.
“Lincoln Right to Life has
injured Planned Parenthood
financially with its efforts to
scare business people, because it
has reduced free market competi
tion for our business.”
Let’s get this straight: For
years, abortion rights’ advocates
have insisted the central issue of
the abortion debate is the “repro
ductive freedom” of women —
not the profits of abortion clinics.
However, the chiefs of Planned
Parenthood have put that myth to
rest.
Indeed, abortion is big busi
ness that rakes profit from the
legalization to kill the unborn.
And although it has been surpris
ingly shameless about its profit
motive, Planned Parenthood still
sees the need to bang and blame.
Lincoln Right to Life seems to be
the perfect target.
Determined to make their
dream abortion clinic a reality,
Jamie Karl
Funk and gang are whining again.
This time, the crying is over a
Lincoln Right to Life list that
named businesses involved with
the clinic’s construction.
Funk complained to a sympa
thetic media that the Right to
Life’s list preyed on the recent
abortion clinic shootings in
Florida and Massachusetts.
“They know perfectly well
what kind of environment exists
with violence, and they continue
to create fear,” Funk said Tues
day.
And for Chris Funk, even the
church was fair game.
“I think we should require all
priests to take History 101. They
should be reminded this is not a
theocracy, and this country has its
roots in separation of church and
state.”
Save it, Chris.
The Planned Parenthood gang
just doesn’t get it. The reason
abortion clinics are going out of
business in this country — while
no new ones are being built — is
not because of economic sabo
tage, violence or theocracy. The
abortion business is suddenly
struggling because of a change of
heart.
Yes, what happened in Florida
and Massachusetts are heinous
tragedies and should be dealt with
swiftly and with full retribution.
But these tragedies occur every
day in abortion clinics all over
America. Since Roe vs. Wade,
there have been more than 30
million “terminated pregnancies”
in the United States. That isn’t
reproductive freedom; that’s a
national crisis.
It’s no surprise most people
aren’t shedding many tears if
these slaughterhouses are closing
shop. And it’s no wonder most
ignore the over-references to the
recent clinic shootings.
After 22 years of activism over
America’s most emotional issue,
the right-to-life movement has the
best record of nonviolence. Better
than the war protesters of the ’60s
and ’70s. Better than the civil
rights protesters of a generation
ago.
That’s commendable, consider
ing Right to Life is the most
worthwhile cause in America
today. Its good people must never
walk away from defending the
innocent and defenseless. Pro
lifers should never back down to
those spouting outrage to disguise
their guilty conscience over what
they do — and why they do it.
As far as Lincoln Right to
Life, it has done its job admira
bly. Along with uncovering the
motive behind abortion, Lincoln
Right to Life has reflected the
new moral conscience of this city.
From the thousands who line O
Street every October in the “Life
Chain” to the protestors at the
businesses doing work for the
clinic, the moral majority of
Lincoln has made it clear: Here,
in the heart of the nation, the
abortion argument really needs no
persuasion tactics, no in-depth
discussion. The federal govern
ment may give a woman the legal
right to kill her own child, but she
will not be able to do it in the
Star City.
Karl Is a Junior news-editorial major and
a Daily Nebraskan night news editor and col
umnist
UNL health aide perks abound
In 1957, due to an epidemic of
the Asian Flu, the University of
Nebraska was forced to enlist and
teach its students to care for their
peers who were ill. The number of
patients coming into the health
center each day greatly outnum
bered the doctors and nurses
available to care for them.
Unknowingly, with each student
who reached out to help a friend or
neighbor, a communication link
between students and the Univer
sity Health Center was formed, and
the first health aide program was
initiated. Since then, the health
aide program on the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln campus has
grown rapidly. There are now more
than 100 health aides on staff
residing in every residence hall,
greek house or cooperative.
Since the fall semester, I have
had the privilege of being part of
the health aide program. Besides
acting as a communication link to
the health center, I have been
trained in basic first aid, CPR,
protocols and procedures, interper
sonal skills and diversity issues. As
a first-year health aide, I am
required to attend a credited two
semester public health course that
covers a variety of health-related
topics — from upper-respiratory
infections and abdominal com
plaints to sexuality, nutrition and
alcohol and drug abuse.
This all may seem like a bunch
of boring medical jargon, but for
anyone who is a health science
major or just interested in modem
health care, ttje health aide pro
gram offers a wealth of interesting
information.
By now, you are probably
wondering what’s in it for you if
you choose to become a health
aide. Well, besides gaining a
warehouse of information and
Beth Finsten
knowledge, health aides are
salaried members of the University
Health Center and are covered
under the health center’s liability
insurance. On top of a salary and
knowledge, the satisfaction of
being able to help another human
being or possibly even save his or
her life makes the health aide
program a worthwhile endeavor.
Health aides also are given the
opportunity to take part in commu
nity service, like this month’s
Campus Red Cross blood drive,
health fairs and screenings. The
program has opened my eyes to
careers and opportunities in the
health care field and the possibility
for growth in the future.
Initially, the fact that becoming
a health aide might look good on
my application to pharmacy school
was the only reason I became
interested in the program. That fact
might still hold true, but the
knowledge and experience I’ve
obtained from caring for my fellow
students is priceless. You do not
have to be a science major to be a
health aide. You just have to be
willing to care for others and
increase your knowledge about
health.
If you live in a residence hall or
greek house, you have probably
noticed the red cross sign hanging
on your floor’s health aide’s door.
You have probably noticed infor
mation sheets on various issues
hanging on the bathroom stalls and
the health tips in your living unit.
Hopefully, you have met your
health aide (without having to
receive CPR). Your health aide is
there to provide health care for
minor physical and emotional
problems. These duties range from
putting a Band-Aid on a paper cut
to performing CPR to save a life.
The next time you see your
health aide wandering the halls,
hopefully you will see him or her
in a different light. A simple
“thanks" or appreciative smile is all
health aides ask in return for
services rendered. Beyond notes on
bathroom stalls and health tips on
walls, most students never know
the full extent of what a health aide
does. The program has changed a
lot over the years, trying always to
keep the students informed about
modern health care issues. But the
basic principle has never changed:
students helping students.
Recruitment for the health aide
program will be starting soon, and
the more the merrier. The goal of
the program every year is to get a
health aide for every floor in the
residence halls, every greek house
and cooperative. Sadly, this goal
often falls short, partly because
many students do not even know
the program exists.
If you have an interest, I urge
you strongly to take part in a
program that might very well
change how you look at life. As a
health aide, I hope I have given the
program the respect it deserves,
and as a columnist I hope I have
reached my readers and opened
their eyes to a great and unique
opportunity that the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln has to offer.
FI ns ten Is a sophomore pre-pharmacy
major and a Dally Nebraskan cohunnlst
Rewrite of history
luckily blown away
Fifty years after the end of
World War II, the Enola Gay has
dropped another bomb. This one
fell on the political correctness
movement that sought to rewrite
history and portray the decision
by President Truman to unleash
the atomic bomb on Japan as
unnecessary overkill.
The Smithsonian Institution,
guardian of the nation’s history,
drastically scaled down a
controversial exhibit about the
atomic bombing of Japan after a
barrage of charges from the
American Legion and other
veterans groups that the exhibit
depicted Japan as a victim and
the United States as guilty of an
evil act.
Smithsonian Secretary I.
Michael Heyman said, “I have
concluded that we made a basic
error in attempting to couple a
historical treatment of the use of
atomic weapons with the 50th
anniversary commemoration of
the end of the war.” Actually,
the basic error was in allowing
those who think the word “hero”
refers only to a sandwich to
rewrite history.
Some modem historians are
uncomfortable with those who
once recognized that evil exists
and must be defeated, not
accommodated, and with great
leaders who did what was right
without consulting opinion polls
or gurus to help them get in
touch with their feelings.
David McCullough’s magnifi
cent biography of President
Truman offers the kind of
authentic history that should
have been part of the
Smithsonian exhibition. Truman
and an advisory committee
wrestled with the moral question
and decided to use the bomb to
save lives. As strange as that
may sound now with hindsight, it
was the right decision then —
and it remains defensible 50
years later.
As McCullough notes, Japan
had vowed to fight to the end.
Conventional bombs and
incendiary devices dropped on
Tokyo on March 9 and 10,1945
(when more than 100,000 people
died), did not bring surrender.
Secretary of War Henry
Stimson, who had the final
responsibility for recommending
to Truman whether to drop the
bomb; wrote: “I felt that to
extract a genuine surrender from
the Emperor and his military
advisers, there must be adminis
tered a tremendous shock which
could carry convincing proof of
our power to destroy the Empire.
Such an effective shock would
save many times the number of
lives, both American and
Japanese, that it would cost”
Cal Thomas
(emphasis mine).
McCullough writes, “The
possibility of dropping the
atomic bomb on some target
other than a city, as a harmless
technical demonstration for the
Japanese, had been considered
by the committee and by the
scientific panel, and it had been
rejected.”
Japanese soldiers knew no
fear. Truman had seen what they
did on Okinawa. They fought
from caves and pillboxes with
fanatic ferocity, even after 10
days of heavy air and sea
bombardment. More than 12,000
Americans were killed and
36.000 wounded on Okinawa,
and Japanese losses were
110.000 killed. Civilian deaths
ran to 150,000, one-third of the
population.
Gen. George C. Marshall
would later explain: “The
Japanese had demonstrated in
each case-they would not
surrender, and they fight to the
death.... It was to be expected
that resistance in Japan, with
their home ties, could be even
more severe. We had 100,000
people killed in Tokyo in one
night of bombs, and it had
seemingly no effect whatsoever.
It destroyed the Japanese cities,
yes, but their morale was
affected, so far as we could tell,
not at all. So it seemed quite
necessary, if we could, to shock
them into action.... We had to
end the war; we had to save
American lives.”
That s why the atomic bomb
was dropped. For those who
didn’t (or wouldn’t) pay the
price of war, for those who don’t
know the meaning of courage
and sacrifice — for such people
to denigrate the real history,
motivations and experience of
those who fought the good fight
is a smear on every man and
woman who gave so much that
we might enjoy peace and
freedom in our time.
It was right and good that the
politically correct view of the
end of World War II was
aborted. It was illegitimately
conceived. Next time, perhaps
the Smithsonian ought to consult
historians who tell the truth.
©1995 Los Angeles Times Syndicate
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