STEVEN SAYS

Fate of the unborn

Grossberg and Peterson case raises questions about manslaughter and abortion

By Steven E. Wedel

COMMIIISI L ast week two young adults were convicted of manslaughter for doing what thousands of doctors do every day in America. They did something that is condoned in our society and even esteemed as a mark of freedom by some.

What was their crime? Procrastination.

Amy S. Grossberg, with the help of her boyfriend, Brian C. Peterson, delivered a 6-pound, 2- ounce baby boy in a Comfort Inn room in Newark, Del. in November 1990. After the child was born, they wrapped it in a trash bag and left it in a garbage dumpster behind the motel. The temperature was below freezing that morning

However, autopsy reports show the child did not die from exposure to the bitter elements. He died from "massive head injuries." It has not been learned who inflicted the killing blows but it is known that Peterson put his son in the bag and "got rid of it" as Grossberg ordered, by putting him in the dumpster.

I don't see anything wrong with what these two middle-class teenagers did. At least, not when you put their act in context with the standards of today's society.

You think dead babies in the trash is a bad thing? Take a look in the bio-waste dumpster at any abortion clinic and tell me what you see. You won't find babies with massive head injuries— you'll find pieces of babies who of today's non-traditional families. They shouldn't have to put up with such nonsense.

were ripped apart and scraped from the womb.

What's the difference? A few weeks...a medical license.

Those kids, both of whom are

What was the penalty for not selecting a licensed doctor to perform Grossberg's abortion in a timely fashion? The judge sentenced Grossberg to eight 20 years old now, just waited too long and then did the job

years in prison, but then suspended all but 2 1/2 years and

themselves. It's like letting your car tag expire, then covering ordered her to complete 300 hours of community service.

Remember, she only killed the expiration date with mud, hoping no one will notice. Eventually it's

one baby. Maybe she can council women to have abortions early as part of her

going to rain and the truth will be exposed.

Those kids are paying now. T h e prosecuting attorney in the case initially pushed for a first-degree murder charge against both defendants, but later reduced the charge to manslaughter.

Hey, it was just a baby. It's not like the boy had accomplished anything to make it really human yet. He wasn't co-captain of the soccer team, like his dad, nor did he show artistic promise, like his mom. He was a bum—a burden on one community service.

Peterson will get out six months earlier because he cooperated with the prosecutors. And, being a good boyfriend, he urged Grossberg to have the baby professionally murdered before it slipped from the womb.

There's a man for the '90s!

After sentencing Grossberg, the judge told her, "Your selfishness caused the death of a child whose life was of no less value than any person in this courtroom." Funny, but I bet if Killing babies is fine, but pay a professional to do it, and do it early...

Grossberg had pulled out a gun and shot the judge's mother right then her sentence would have been a little harsher.

The judge went on to tell Grossberg, "It was an egocentrism that prevented you from seeking help and blinded you to the intrinsic value of the life of your child."

Studies show it is usually "egocentrism" that is the reason for most abortions. Women don't want the inconvenience of having to deal with a baby. And value...

What value? The Supreme Court itself said a child's life has no value in the first trimester after conception. The Court passed the buck to the states to determine if there was any value during the rest of the pregnancy. Many states say there is still no value in the second trimester, and some won't even acknowledge the baby in the third trimester.

So why recognize the mass of tissue as a living thing minutes after it's born? If it was really an independent creature, Grossberg's baby would have climbed out of that dumpster and found some clothes and food and then gone about his business— except for the fact somebody had bashed in his brains.

Is the value of the unborn likely to change? A bill that recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives requires clinics in all states to get parental consent before killing the baby of an under'age girl. Currently, 23 states have stricter regulations for ear-piercing than they do abortion. The legislation will likely pass in the Senate, but it could be vetoed by President Clinton.

Why would Clinton veto the bill? Because women like Nina Burleigh, a former White House correspondent for Time magazine, -said, "I'd be happy to give him (oral sex) just to thank him for keeping abortion legal." With benefits like that, what morally-challenged man wouldn't veto the bill?

So, what has America learned from the trials of Grossberg and Peterson? Killing babies is fine, but pay a professional to do it, and do it early—before we have to face the reality of a fullydeveloped, tiny human being. <

Sam Magrill By Lauren Wylie Student;

UCO music professor Dr. Samuel Magrill has been chosen to receive the 1997-98 American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) award for his musical accomplishments and contributions.

A national awards panel, comprised of ASCAP members and nonmembers, chooses the annual recipients and awards them with recognition and a cash prize.

The ASCAP award is given to encourage writers of serious music, said ASCAP President Marilyn Bergman. "The awards are based on the unique prestige value of each writer's catalog of original compositions, as well as recent performances of those works," she said.

Magrill, who has been a professor at UCO since 1988 and is accepting his I 1th consecutive ASCAP award, said the yearly recognition from ASCAP keeps,/A4rn motivated. "I am delighted that my music is being recognized and this award encourages me to continue composing."

Magrill's 1997-98 compositions include The Gorgon 's Head, an opera that premiered at UCO; Hong's Song. a solo written for violinist Dr. Hong Zhu; and Festival Fanfare, commissioned by UCO's director of Wind Ensemble. Dr. Ron Howell. "I'm pleased that I've been able to work with my colleagues at the university," Magrill said.

In his past 10 years at UCO, Magrill has had many requests from faculty members to write compositions for them.

Magrill is currently at work on another opera under the working name Paradise ofChildren. He said the new performance, which opens in December 1998 at Mitchell Hall, is based on another story by Hawthorne and is an extension of The Gorgon's Head. 4(