Elie Dvorin’s “Blood on Their (Tiny) Hands,” is unconvincing as it forces the reader to make several leaps of faith. Although his stance on the Roe v. Wade decision is a perfectly valid opinion, it is based on falsehoods. Dvorin mentions Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) several times throughout his column. He asserts that much of the reason that the Supreme Court sided in favor of Roe is that she was raped, or at least claimed to have been. Dvorin seems to believe that the highest, busiest court in the United States chose to hear the case and sided as it did because it felt sorry for Roe since she was raped. In fact, had Dvorin looked at the details of the Roe case, he would have seen that the subsequent rape was not presented by Sarah Weddington, McCorvey’s lawyer. Dvorin also claims that Weddington, who he claims had previously had an abortion, did not tell her where to get one simply so she would have a pregnant woman to take to court. Perhaps Weddington preferred not to subject McCorvey to the illegal, expensive, dangerous and often life-threatening procedures that were commonplace, and she herself had survived. Although his statement that Roe was used as a “pawn” has no proof, he still uses it as a pillar of his anti-abortion stance.

The right to reproductive freedom is one that the highest court in this country has chosen to uphold. Dvorin was right on one account: in the next four years Bush may have the chance to stack the Supreme Court with anti-choice judges. This is a time for us to be scared and cautious. There are a number of organizations on campus that support a woman’s right to choose. If you are worried about the next four years and your reproductive rights, we encourage you to seek out one of these organizations. Among these, is the Student ACLU, see more info at www.uiuc.edu/ro/aclu/

Vinay V. Tota

co-president

Maeve Anderson

co-president

Nellie Waddell

treasurer

Elizabeth Wagner

Valerie Enriquez

Student ACLU