LOCAL NEWS

Demonstrate Your Right To Choose

On January 22, 1979, Dr. Carolyn Gerster, President of the National Right to Life Committee, will address an anti-choice gathering at Music Hall. It is expected that her appearance will attract national media coverage as she is the recognized spokesperson for the Committee which seeks to reverse the Supreme Court decision of 1973 which made safe, legal abortion available in the United States.

As the newly elected president of the National Right to Life Committee, Dr. Gerster represents an even more militant right wing stand than did the previous president, Dr. Mildred Jefferson. She is the prime mover for a constitutional amendment to end all abortions and a leader in the development of a Right to Life political "hit list" for 1980. This "hit

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list" consists of pro-choice political leaders the Committee has determined to defeat at the polls.

Organizations supporting the platform of the Committee include the John Birch Society, the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party. That plat-

Cleveland Women Working Banks Reviewed by Labor Dept.

Two Cleveland banks are currently facing on-site investigations by the Department of Labor. In the next few months, federal investigators will be inside National City Bank and Union Commerce Bank reviewing personnel records and interviewing employees.

These reviews were set into motion by a study written by Cleveland Women Working which charged Cleveland's five largest banks with sex and race discrimination. Two other major banks, Central National and Cleveland Trust, are also under review by the Department of Labor. In their cases, the government is presently reviewing their written affirmative action plans. If these plans are found to be inadequate, on-site investigations of Central National and Cleveland Trust will be scheduled for the near future,

Downtown Crime Survey

Cleveland Women Working's Downtown Community Crime Prevention Project is getting underway. A Survey has been designed to help gather relevant information about concerns with safety on the job. If you work in the downtown Cleveland area, please take the time to fill it out.

Contact Kathie FitzSimons (566-8511) for a copy of the Survey, or if you would be willing to pass it out in your office, in your building or on the street. The Survey must be widely distributed to be effective.

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form is not limited to ending the right to choose abortion, but also includes an attack on most family planning methods, a ban on sex education and attacks on Planned Parenthood and all social service agencies which provide abortion referrals or information.

The pro-choice community of Cleveland must not allow Dr. Gerster's appearance here to go by without voicing protest and disgust for the repressive philosophies she and the Committee represent. A

demonstration of support for the right to choose and in opposition to Dr. Gerster's appearance will begin at 6:45 p.m. on Monday, January 22, in front on Music Hall at the corner of East 6th Street and St. Clair Avenue. With enough support, demonstrators will again outnumber the anti-choice constituency.

Dress warmly. Plan on being busy for 45 minutes. For further information, contact CARAL at 321-5424 or EFCO at 579-0028.

Pro-Choice Canvassing in Cleveland Heights

In keeping with its new activist platform, the Cleveland Abortion Rights Action League (CARAL) successfully completed its first public outreach project on December 9 in Cleveland Heights, CARAL volunteers spent the afternoon distributing informational literature and public opinion surveys in a doorto-door campaign to educate the public on abortion rights issues.

Icy sidewalks and bitter winds seemed to work to the advantage of the 15 canvassers. Expecting at least some hostility or disinterest, volunteers were surprised to find most residents of this heavily Catholic area were sympathetic to the issue and impressed by the dedication of those who would give up a Saturday in the midst of the holiday season to walk door to door.

Working in support teams scattered throughout Cleveland Heights, canvassers distributed over 900 pieces of literature in less than two hours on the

streets. Canvassers found most of the residents were interested in the literature and many voiced their support of abortion rights. While a few refused literature, volunteers found their biggest difficulty was in moving away from conversations quickly enough to go on to complete their routes. Those residents who have returned their opinion surveys have overwhelmingly supported the pro-choice stand,

Canvassing was an experimental project jointly sponsored by CARAL and Education for Freedom of Choice in Ohio (EFCO). This attempt at personto-person contact was so successful in getting prochoice information out to the public that volunteers are eager to undertake more frequent and larger door-to-door campaigns. If you would like to participate in the next canvassing project, call CARAL at 321-5424 or EFCO at 579-0028.

Battisti: No On West Side Women's Clinic

In May 1977 the West Side Women's Services organization signed a 10-year lease for office space to

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provide abortions to women living on the West Side of Cleveland. Both building and occupancy permits were obtained. Two months later, Councilman Getz Trial Date Set in Toney Case

On November 2, 1978, Tom Baumgartner, a former University of Akron student, was indicted for the rape of Rhonda Toney. When Baumgartner was bound over to the grand jury, the charges included manslaughter, but the grand jury indicted him only on the charge of rape.

The trial has been set for Monday, January 8, 1978 at 9:15, a.m. at the Summit County Courthouse in Akron.

Rhonda Toney was raped in her dorm room on September 22, 1978. She died six days later of a heart attack. Toney had a history of serious heart problems (see December, 1978 issue of WSW for additional information).

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Black United Students, Student Action Committee, Akron NOW and other organizations and individuals hope supporters will pack the Summit County Courthouse on January 8, 1978 at 9:15 a.m.

initiated a restrictive zoning ordinance which would prohibit all physicians from performing outpatient abortions in a local retail business district. What She Wants contacted Penny Steenblock, one of the founders of the clinic, to find out what has happened since that time. She explained that this ordinance was introduced at a City Council meeting, where regular charter rules were dismissed and the ordinance was not discussed. Mayor Perk signed the legislation on the spot.

The clinic responded by seeking an injunction on the grounds that the ordinance contradicted the 1973 Supreme Court ruling prohibiting legal interference in the performance of first-trimester abortions. Ms. Steenblock told us that Judge Battisti took several months to schedule a date for a hearing, and refused to have a full-scale trial. At that hearing, Judge Battisti "ridiculed" Ms. Steenblock's reasons for founding an abortion facility that would be accessible to West Side Women: "So what. I'm busing children all over the city." He denied the clinic's request for an injunction, stating that the Center does not have "a fundamental right to perform abortions".

The clinic appealed Judge Battisti's decision to both the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court with the help of Roy Lucas, a nationally-known abortion rights lawyer. Both courts refused to hear the case because it was not "ripe for appeal," referring it back to Judge Battisti for a full-scale trial.

The founders' funds have been completely exhausted. Roy Lucas did not charge for his services and obtained funds from NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) for filing fees and printing costs. Ms. Steinblock would like the trial to continue because of its national ramifications for the pro-choice issue. She sees the extensive time involved in legal procedures as a delaying tactic.

-Carol Epstein