LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Anti-abortion ad sparks anger

To the Editor: Perhaps for a similar feat next week you can get petroleum groups to give you a paid supplement about how oil drilling is good for the environment. Then after we come back from spring break we could be greeted with a treatise on how the Holocaust never really happened. While the DP is not always a bastion of fine journalism, your standards are usually high enough not to include a thinly disguised propaganda piece filled with lies and half truths. For example, you did -- in the past -- reject a paid ad from a Holocaust revisionist group. Given this claptrap, I see no reason for you not to go and actively solicit that sort of "quality" material as advertising, if nothing else it could fill your letters columns with other missives like this. Erik Oliver Law '98 n To the Editor: I don't claim to be the voice of a generation -- in fact, I won't speak for anyone other than myself -- but I was personally offended by The Daily Pennsylvanian's inclusion of a Human Life Alliance advertising insert in the February 27 edition. With the free speech of Americans being eroded day by day through acts of Congress, I will defend to my death the right for people to express their opinions. I will also not sit by while an impartial student newspaper distributes one-sided propaganda on an issue which so violently divides the American people today. With the discussion of abortion made illegal over the Internet, what we need most now is an impartial forum for discussion. Having newsprint with a fetus on the cover does not in any way help matters. I may be overreacting but I don't think so, because while I may or may not agree abortion in principle, I believe that abortion, like religion, is something that must be decided upon individually. Far be it from me to tell some unfortunate woman what she should or shouldn't do with her body. Michael Gold College '99 n To the Editor: Though I am aware that DP inserts do not necessarily reflect any opinions of the staff, I find it interesting that that the Human Life Alliance insert has appeared each year I have attended Penn. However, there has been no balancing response to this insert at any point in the year. Therefore, I wish to respond. I have been confronted with the issue of abortion personally several times in my life. I have very close friends who have been forced to make this extremely difficult decision and I have watched their pain through these times. I have come to the conclusion that, rather than seeing fit to forbid everyone to decide what they wish to do with their bodies, I choose only to decide what I will do with mine. I cannot make another person prioritize things in the same way I do and I feel invaded when it is attempted on me. We are all surrounded by so much propaganda every day, attempts to win us over by tugging at our heartstrings and viscera. It seems to me that a belief will not be swayed this way. Only through personal experience and internal soul searching do we arrive at our beliefs. I understand why people try to enlighten others to their way of thinking, but the ethical means of going about this seem rather to present all sides of a dilemma, all consequences, and to allow others to reach a conclusion on their own. Tanya Witman College '97 Demanding to be heard To the Editor: Bravo to those students who attended the forum on the new judicial charter ("U. Council meeting focuses on judicial charter proposal," DP, 2/22/96)! I remember when I was one of only a handful of students who bothered to show up at last year's sessions to discuss proposed changes. Despite what the administration might think about the idea that they are there for the students and not simply to do research, they are. It is about time that the student body got off their collective hindquarters and demanded to be heard. Now, let's hope that the administration learns to listen. Also, I love being able to keep up with events at Penn through DP Online. Keep it up! Jeffrey Jenkins Engineering and College '95 Support Penn's athletes To the Editor: This is my fourth semester of reading the sports section of the DP, and it's beginning to get a little annoying. When athletic teams do well they are given credit. But if a team (or individual athlete) is not performing well or if there is doubt about how they will do, they are very likely to be ripped apart. As an athlete here at Penn, I know how much time and dedication it takes to perform as a student and an athlete. We work very hard to represent this school well, but oftentimes we get little to no support from the school newspaper. I'm not asking for anyone to hold the hands of athletic teams throughout their seasons. The DP needs to realize that we're all on the same side, instead of treating Penn teams like the competition. On a positive note, the women's track and field reporter deserves a pat on the back. He's done a good job of sticking by our side, and reporting the information given. But if he had asked any one of us about Heps, we would have told him we were going to win the championship! Dawn McGee Women's Track & Field member Engineering '98 A plea for cycling safety To the Editor: I feel compelled to write a letter asking bicyclists to wear helmets while commuting along Walnut Street before someone is killed or seriously hurt. I have thought about writing this letter since September, when I was surprised to observe that helmets were the rarity along this heavily trafficked route. Then I began to hear stories about students who had been involved in accidents on Walnut between 24th and 35th streets and became appalled at the likelihood that car and rider will collide once again with devastating results. Finally, I started driving to work to avoid the winter chill and learned how treacherous a road filled with speeding taxi drivers, people speeding to Penn and other assorted speeding commuters. This combination of cars, bikes and walkers along Walnut is bound to lead to disaster. If these disasters are both probable and preventable, why not where a helmet to seriously reduce the chances of head injury? The most likely explanations seem to be a lack of awareness of past incidents, a denial of the actual dangers of sharing the road along this stretch and the vanity of avoiding helmet hair. None of these comes close to compensating for the potential impact of serious injury or loss of life, and I for one would feel much more at ease seeing more bikers using basic precautions like helmets. So, please, wear a helmet. David Eldridge Social Work '97