News & Commentary

While the charges against the 93 drug-free young people arrested at a Flint nightclub have not yet been thrown out, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, which represents the nightclub patrons, was encouraged by the most recent ruling in the case.

Bush's stand on abortion calls for moral clarity Following one of the closest and most contentious elections in recent memory, pundits across the country blamed "moral values" as the social fault line dividing America. The president, who believes that the election results gave him "political capital" to spend, can be fully expected to do so on an issue that his far-right constituency cares deeply about -- overturning Roe v. Wade. He has stated clearly that he will do what is necessary to limit women's reproductive rights. As he begins his second term, and following the weekend celebrations of the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we should ask whose moral values are we talking about? What is moral, for example, about spending millions of taxpayer dollars on programs that deny sexually active teens information they need to protect themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection? Since 1997, more than half a billion dollars have been allocated to sex education programs that focus exclusively on abstinence, censoring any information that might enable young people to make responsible and healthy decisions. There is no conclusive evidence that abstinence-only programs work, although there is evidence that they deter sexually active teens from using appropriate protection. Despite this reality, and despite testimony from parents of school-aged children rejecting this approach, the Michigan Legislature recently passed legislation that dismantles a comprehensive sex-education curriculum used in public schools. What is moral about denying a rape victim assistance to prevent a pregnancy resulting from an assault? Emergency contraception, a form of birth control that when taken within days of unprotected intercourse reduces the risk of pregnancy by as much as 89 percent, has become one of the most recent targets of attack. With it, up to 22,000 pregnancies that result each year from rape could be prevented. Yet, in releasing the first-ever national protocol for treating sexual assault victims, President George W. Bush's Justice Department excluded any mention of emergency contraception. What is moral about spending thousands of desperately needed taxpayer dollars to defend laws passed by the Michigan Legislature that would prevent physicians from protecting the health or life of a woman when she or he believes it is medically necessary? Like two previous Michigan bills successfully challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union in federal courts, the "legal birth definition act," passed last spring by the Michigan Legislature, does not contain a sufficient health exception in accordance with requirements set out by the Supreme Court. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has to, yet again, prepare litigation to fight this latest effort to ban abortion in Michigan. What is moral about denying health coverage to a pregnant woman in need of an abortion when her doctor believes it is necessary to protect her health? Government health services programs for the poor, such as Medicaid, limit abortion coverage to cases where a woman's pregnancy is the result of rape or incest or if her life is in jeopardy. It will not pay for an abortion if a woman's health is threatened. What is moral about forcing a low-income woman to choose between paying for an abortion she needs to preserve her health and paying for food, shelter and other basic necessities for her family? Indeed, what is moral about forcing a woman to continue a pregnancy when she is unable to care for a child? When she wants to finish high school or isn't financially or emotionally ready to become a parent? We live in a world now where health care workers at places such as Planned Parenthood that provide a wide range of health care services, including prenatal care and parenting skills classes, have to work behind bullet-proof glass; where fewer and fewer medical schools are willing to train physicians to provide abortions; and where physicians have to bear the interference of the far right in the provision of their medical services. The moral value that I cherish is a world in which every child is a wanted child. The moral value that I cherish is a world in which physicians and health care workers can offer the best medical treatment needed and possible to their patients. The moral value that I cherish is a world in which every woman is able to freely exercise her most basic right to make decisions about her body free from governmental interference and with the best medical information possible.

This is a sad time in Michigan's legal history. On Nov. 2, a majority of voters approved an amendment to Michigan's constitution. The language, "Only the union between one man and one woman in marriage shall be recognized as marriage or similar union for any purpose" seemed simple, but it isn't.

Bush administration tries to increase government powers that erode liberties, even as a judge finds parts of the Patriot Act require greater public oversight.

Muslim calls to prayer are constitutionally permissible if Hamtramck treats religious and nonreligious speech equally.

Kary Moss looks tired, which is not surprising, given that she has spent another 70-80 hour week fighting for mostly unpopular causes. On top of that, she commutes from Ann Arbor to Detroit, and is the mother of a teenager.

Michigan’s anti-gay organizations have mobilized to pressure Michigan’s Senators to take action on Senate Joint Resolution E (SJR E), a pending amendment to the state Constitution, by mid-February.

In passing the USA PATRIOT Act (PATRIOT Act I), Congress expanded the powers of the government to spy on individuals, reduce the oversight of such activities, and ultimately increase the secrecy with which the Justice Department operates. The Domestic Security Enhancement Act (PATRIOT Act II) threatens to fundamentally alter the constitutional protections that allow us as Americans to be both safe and free. There are many egregious provisions in the bill that will affect every one of us. Among them are:

In response to a discovery request, the state of Michigan on October 16 produced a data file of the Michigan Merit Award Scholarship qualifiers and non-qualifiers from the high school graduating class of 2002. I analyzed those data to calculate scholarship qualification rates by race, and compared the rates to the earlier cohort of students (high school class of 2000) that I analyzed for the initial filing of the White, et al. v. Engler, et al. lawsuit. The Scholarship rules mandate that students take all four subtests of the MEAP high school test to qualify for an award. The results are in Table 1 below.