Sun (Baltimore, Md. : 1837)最新文献

Planned Parenthood says that rather than accept the Bush administration's gag rule it will give up federal funding of its operations. The gag rule forbids professionals at birth control clinics from even referring to abortion as an option to a pregnant woman, much less recommending one. President Bush has agreed to a policy which allows physicians but no one else at clinics to discuss abortion in at least some cases. In his view, according to White House officials, this was an admitted attempt to straddle the issue. Why he would want to straddle is understandable. The right wing of his party, which has always been suspicious of Mr. Bush, is pushing him to uphold what it regards as the Reagan legacy on this issue. The original gag rule, which prevented even physicians from discussing abortion as an option in almost all cases, was issued in the last presidents's 2nd term and upheld last year by the Supreme Court. Give Planned Parenthood credit for sticking to its principles. A lot of recipients of all sorts of federal funds want it both ways, take the money but not accept federal policy guidelines. When they find they can't, many "rise above principle," take the money and adjust policy accordingly. It is not going to be easy for Planned Parenthood now. Federal funds account for a significant portion of the organizations's budgets. Planned Parenthood of Maryland, for example, gets about $500,000 a year from the federal government, or about 12-13% of its total budget. It will either have to cut back on its services or increase its fundraising from other sources or charge women more for services--or all of those things. This is not the end of the story. It is certainly not the end of the political story. Pat Buchanan said of the new regulations, "I like the old position, to be quite candid." Thank goodness he never won a primary. George Bush would not have moved even as far as he hid on the gag rule. There will be a lot of agreement with the Buchanan view at the Republican national convention. We can only hope that by then the president will be looking to the general election campaign and a Democratic opponent who will be appealing to Republican women on this issue. Perhaps then he will relax the gag order a little more.

President Bush complained yesterday about the "filth and indecent material" that Americans are exposed to through televised trials. Mr. Bush also criticized programs to combat AIDS that give condoms to teenagers and clean needles to drug addicts. He said such efforts undermine traditional values. He expressed hope that Earvin "Magic" Johnson's revelation that he is HIV positive "will teach people that wayward lifestyles or just kind of unsafe sex at random is not the way it ought to work." Mr. Bush made the comments in a series of satellite television interviews with ABC affiliates in major cities. In an apparent reaction to graphic testimony at the recent Palm Beach rape trial of William Kennedy Smith, Mr. Bush said, "I think the American people have a right to be protected against some of these excesses." Mr. Smith, a nephew of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., was acquitted last week. The Cable News Network and Court TV provided virtually gavel-to-gavel coverage. Mr. Bush took a dim view of a plan to distribute condoms to juniors and seniors in Philadelphia city high schools as part of a program to combat acquired immune deficiency syndrome. "This is a disease that can be controlled for the most part by individual behavior," Mr. Bush said. "Indeed, I must tell you I'm worried about it. I'm worried about so much filth and indecent material coming in through the airwaves and through these trials into people's homes," he said.

3 CBS-owned television stations and NBC's New York television station announced yesterday that they would begin accepting condom advertising. In addition, the ABC network announced it will begin running a 30-second public service message with Dr. C. Everett Koop, the US surgeon general, saying that condoms are the best protection against sexual transmission of AIDS. CBS said it will allow the 4 television stations and 18 radio stations it owns to accept condom advertising based on the attitudes of the local viewing or listening community. WCBS-TV in New York, WCAU-TV in Philadelphia and KCBS-TV in Los Angeles said they would accept such ads. CBS also owns a television station in Chicago. WCAU will air condom ads after 11 p.m. only, beginning probably next week, said Paul Webb, a station spokesman. "We recognize the legitimate sensitivities of some members of the community in regard to this issue," said Steve Cohen, the WCAU general manager. "However, it is the judgment of this station that the importance of providing information about the AIDS epidemic and means of prevention is an overriding consideration." NBC's New York television station, WNBC, announced that it will accept condom advertising and public service announcements.