Contraceptives cannot induce abortions
To the Daily:
I am writing in response to the gross misinformation printed in
a letter to the editor (For women, abortion can be induced by
emergency contraceptives 04/06/04). Tom Bress’s audacious
claim that Lisa Kane Low, a certified nurse-midwife, is incorrect
about contraception is ironic considering the false information he
provides in his letter. We could argue for a long time about when
life begins and probably fail to reach a unanimous conclusion.
Medically however, pregnancy is defined by the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services as the moment at which a fertilized egg is
implanted into a woman’s uterus. Abortion is a medical
procedure that terminates a pregnancy.
Emergency contraceptive, which prevents this implantation, is
not an abortifacient because it will not affect an already
established pregnancy. In fact, EC could actually prevent thousands
of abortions each year in the United States if widely distributed
and properly used. The University community, both men and women,
deserve to know the accurate facts about their sexual and
reproductive health options.
Shosh Ruskin
LSA senior
Member, Students for Choice Executive Board
Compare LEO’s salary requests to other
colleges
To the Daily:
In the Daily’s Monday coverage of the pending
Lecturers’ Employee Organization strike, and again in Jess
Piskor’s column, (Asking is for X-mas presents, demanding
is for justice,04/07/04) a case was made that University
lecturers deserve a better base salary than that awarded to
teachers in the Ann Arbor public school system. The justification
seems to be that working as a lecturer requires a higher degree,
and therefore, ought to pay better. This artificial comparison
attributes too much value to obtaining a special piece of paper
while disrespecting public school teachers.
Compared to an Ann Arbor teacher, a lecturer may come up short.
Compared to anyone currently unemployed, however, a lecturer does
OK. Of course, a lecturer is neither an Ann Arbor public school
teacher, nor unemployed. He has a different set of skills, works a
different schedule and deserves different compensation.
I cannot accept a comparison between lecturers and Ann Arbor
public school teachers. Other universities must offer similar
posts. In hopes of forming an educated opinion on this issue, I
would like to pose an open question to anyone knowledgeable about
this issue: What do other schools pay for a non-professorial
lecturer with an advanced degree?
If other schools pay significantly more than we do, then our
lecturers are right to do everything in their power to improve. If
other schools pay significantly less than the total value of the
salary and benefits LEO is demanding, then the union is being
unreasonable, and the administration must take a firm stance for
fair compensation. Students want to see their tuition money go to
good use and want the University to pay well enough to attract and
keep the best teachers. We cannot possibly know what lecturers
deserve, however, without some logical grounds for comparison.
Miles Putnam
LSA junior