Abortion Ban for Federal Employees

Abortion services may be eliminated from employee health insurance coverage for nine million Americans if an appropriations bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in late August retains its anti-abortion amendment. The amendment banning abortion services under federal health employee benefit plans passed by 228 to 170 before the Treasury, Postal Service and General Government Appropriations bill in its entirety was approved on the House floor.

"A staggering number of women and their families will be effectively denied access to abortion as an affordable health option if the restriction is passed by the Senate," said Karen Mulhauser, Executive Direc-

tor of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). "It is stunning to realize that the amendment forbids even administrative expenses for any health plan which provides abortion coverage for federal employees, even for abortions necessary to save women's lives. Federal employees may soon join Medicaid-eligible women, Peace Corps volunteers and military families as victims of a cruel narrowing of access to a procedure that preserves the health and even the lives of many women who need medicallynecessary abortions."

Federal employee health insurance presently covers more than 3.5 million employees and their nearly 6.5 million dependents. More than 300,000 federal

Abortion Group Sues Catholic Church

(HerSay)-The Abortion Rights Mobilization (ARM) will file a class action this month against the Roman Catholic Church in America, accusing the church of violating its tax -exempt status by engaging directly in political campaigns on the abortion issue. Such political activity breaches the constitutional guarantee of separation of church and state, the group claims.

Lawrence Lader, head of the organization, says that the suit will contend that Catholic religious leaders are "breaking the Internal Revenue Service Code" and therefore should be denied tax exemption. They can be politically active if they so choose, Lader says, but they can't use tax exempt facilities to do so.

Under the IRS Code, religious, charitable and educational organizations are tax exempt. The specific section related to restrictions on political activities says that tax exempt status doesn't apply if the organization "devotes more than an insubstantial part of its activities to attempting to influence legislation by propaganda, or otherwise, or directly or indirectly to participate in or intervene in, including the publishing or distributing of statements, any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any can-

Wife Beating

(HerSay)-A counselor at a Boston treatment center for wife beaters, operated by men for men, says that men will not stop beating their wives and lovers until they change their attitudes toward

women.

Joseph Morse, community education coordinator for Emerge, says that men have been trained to "objectify and oppress women". Men who come to Emerge often complain that they can't stop beating their wives because they lose control of themselves. At the same time, most of these men will admit that when they begin beating their wives or lovers, they are consciously choosing to hit them in a certain way-to punch or slap them-and that they often choose to hit them in a certain spot, for instance, the face or the arm.

Morse says that after several months of treatment, most of these so-called "out of control" men also realize that they can make the same choices simply not to hit the woman at all. He personally believes that wife-beating will not stop, however, until men stop "encouraging each other to be abusive. Until men allow other men not to be that way, women are going to continue to be battered.”

didate or public office."'

Lader noted a recent example of the breaking of the Code: a letter published in the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper five days before the Massachusetts primary, saying that those who elect legislators who support the "crime of abortion" cannot separate themselves totally from that guilt. Also, several archdioceses in the State of New York have in the past been accused of exhorting their congregations to campaign actively against pro-choice groups and of soliciting funds on church grounds for antiabortion campaigns.

Rape: A Social Stigma

(HerSay)-Rape victims who talk about their feelings after the crime are not well-liked socially, according to Dr. Daniel Coates, a University of Wisconsin psychologist who conducted a study of people's responses to rape victims.

Dr. Coates hired a woman actor to read five different versions of a script on tape about her alleged rape experience. The five stories told how upset she was; whether she blamed herself or the criminal; whether she had trouble getting back into the social swing or trusting men; and whether she had been depressed as a result of the rape,

The doctor found that among the audiences who listened to the different tapes, the "victim" who expressed a strong recovery was liked more than the woman who said she was depressed, feared men following her or hesitated to be alone with a man again. The woman who blamed bad luck or circumstances for the crime and quickly adjusted afterwards was the most-liked of all and was viewed as having the best mental health of all the victims.

Coates says that a woman's personal adjustment after a rape may be inhibited because she may sup-

NATIONAL NEWS

employees are members of 86 health maintenance organizations. Another 1,900,000 are covered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield or Aetna Insurance; and another 900,000 are members of 18 union-affiliated plans. In 1979, Blue Cross/Blue Shield reported about 12,100 federal employee program claims for medically-necessary abortions.

"Unions are working hard to block this effort to diminish the federal health care package," said Mulhauser. "They are working to keep that package comprehensive. Unions know that anything less than full access to the complete spectrum of health care, including abortion, is a violation of their collective bargaining rights. This amended bill is just one step more callous than laws restricting state employee health insurance coverage in Kentucky, Illinois, North Dakota and Massachusetts, which allow coverage if the woman involved would die were she not to have an abortion. The trend is terrifying and the tide must be turned."

The amendment banning abortion services in federal employee health plans was proposed by Rep. John Ashbrook (R-Ohio).

-National Abortion Rights Action League

Not among the Chosen

(HerSay)-In the event of a nuclear attack, the United States Government has drawn up a 'Who Gets Saved" list, and apparently there are not too many women on it.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which coordinates federal disaster plans, says that the "Who Gets Saved" list includes all those government officials specified by the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as being in line to succeed to the Presidency. There are two women on that list currently: Shirley Hufstetler, Secretary of Education, and Patricia Roberts Harris, Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The emergency agency says that after that, high presidential appointees and clected officials would get priority in any evacuation plan. Currently, less than three percent of the members of Congress are women. While 22 percent of all presidential appointees are women, the National Women's Political Caucus estimates that less than five percent of those women would probably be considered important enough to be evacuated.

The agency also says that a number of high military officers in the Defense Department, which does not enjoy a reputation for its promotion of women, would also be included on the 'Who Gets Saved" list.

press her negative feelings in order to maintain social Nuclear Nightmares

relationships.

Pimps Penalized

(HerSay)-Testimony by French prostitutes has resulted in the unprecedented sentencing of a dozen pimps to jail terms ranging from 18 months to 10 years. They must also pay $190,000 in restitution to the women, who testified of being beaten, tortured, and forced to serve as many as 60 men a day. The magistrate handling the case hopes that the court decision will encourage other French prostitutes to testify against their pimps.

(HerSay)—Maureen Smith, Peace and Freedom candidate for President, recently said, "When 1 chose to have children, I made a decision for life and for a future. I never dreamed that the war machine would be waiting to snatch my children away to face death or dismemberment on a foreign battlefield or protecting nuclear weapons here at home. Last week's accident at Damascus, Arkansas, involving a Titan Two missile has claimed only one life so far, but it is clear warning that we are probably operating on borrowed time, and must move quickly to end the arms race.... With upwards of 32,000 nuclear warheads, what community doesn't have a nuclear accident in its future?"

October, 1980/What She Wants/Page 5