Christy Goble writes, "When a woman has an abortion, the doctor rips apart the fetus and lays each part on a table to make sure that he has extracted the entire body." I would like to know where this misinformation came from.

According to the National Abortion Federation, a professional association of doctors and other health care professionals who provide abortion services, there are two forms of abortion: surgical and medical. Surgical abortion is a mild suction that removes the placenta, uterine lining and early fetus. Medical abortion is the administration of medication by a physician in order to end a pregnancy. Fifty-eight percent of abortions occur within the first eight weeks of pregnancy and 88 percent occur by the end of the first trimester, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Abortion is a very safe medical procedure, with less than 1 percent of all abortion cases involving serious complications. It is illegal for abortion providers to perform an abortion during the later half of the second trimester, especially since the Bush administration has banned late-term abortion (which, by the way, had been legal only if the life of the mother or soon-to-be child was threatened). In addition, there is no scientific evidence that women who have abortions have long-term psychological effects, according to the Institute of Medicine. Abortion is a medical procedure that is vital to women's and families' lives and needs to be protected. Hopefully this factual information will be noticed and taken seriously. [Read article]

Please get your priorities straight

A few weeks ago, it was environmentalists; now it's university administrators. It seems like everywhere you look, someone's too focused on his or her own little piece of the system to see the necessity of compromise and its benefit to the greater good.

On March 10, the Wildcat reported that there was a bill in the Arizona House of Representatives that would allow community colleges to issue four-year bachelor's degrees in fire science, law enforcement, nursing and teaching. The idea is to provide greater access to higher education for rural and low-income residents. [Read article]

Criteria for the American vote

On Friday, an assassin attempted to kill Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian by shooting him in the stomach. When Chen won Taiwan's third presidential election the next day, opponents initially chalked up the win to a pity vote and claimed the election should be nullified. They later claimed Chen faked the attack to win public sympathy. Certainly, Chen could have used his knowledge of public pity to gain a last-minute edge. However, all of this rests on the idea that the people will vote for a president out of pity and not based on political ideals. The idea that people would vote for any politician for anything other than his principles is simply appalling. [Read article]

Question: After the Wildcats' 20-10 season, do you think Lute Olson is washed up as a basketball coach?

"Not really; if you look at his track record, it shows what he can do. Everyone has ups and downs." Brian Siu
material sciences and engineering senior

"Nope, 'cause I'm in there every day and I see what goes on ÷ I'm a basketball manager. Definitely not." [Read article]