The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 69, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 12, 1987 Page: 2 of 6
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Editorials
Surrogate motherhood
conceives side effects
Although the case of
Baby M is still being
threshed out in court,
there is still something to
be gained from this cur-
rent focus on surrogate
motherhood. If nothing
else, it gives us as a so-
ciety some breathing
space; a chance to perhaps
examine some of the
deeper issues involved
before plunging ahead into
a brave new world.
Countless times the hu-
man race has pushed for-
ward with some new idea,
such as nuclear energy, only to find out later that
there were some unpleasant consequences following
from that very idea. Too often we have not allowed
enough time for reflection, and in so doing have
found some of the results to be as painful as the
benefits are pleasant.
Nuclear energy, for example, offered the promise
of a plentiful, inexpensive and inexhaustible new
form of energy that would free us from our reliance
on fossil fuels, such as coal or oil, which we were
rapidly depleting.
The intended benefits were tremendous: cheap
energy, and a new resource that would change our
way of living. Twenty or thirty years ago it was a
dream full of promise. Today, the negative results
are just beginning to be felt, as we are forced to
deal with an ever-expanding stockpile of nuclear
waste that threatens to contaminate our land.
Although the effects of surrogate motherhood
on our society are yet to be seen, it could be that
this new method of creating a family might have
some consequences just as negative as those of
nuclear energy.
The benefits, of course, are quite clear. The joy
experienced by the couple who receives a child
from a surrogate mother is something that no one
can deny. Obviously, the gift of happiness to a
couple desperate for a child is a gift that is priceless.
Who would want to refuse them this happiness9
But what of some of
the possible side effects?
Though it is not at all
clear yet as to what those
might be, there are some
questions that need to be
asked.
For example, what will
this new technique do to
the concept of mother-
hood? Traditionally the
woman who bore a child
was considered the mother
of that child. The child
was a product of the
woman’s genes. Yet, il
this does not now make
the woman a mother, what does?
Instead of biology being the determining factor,
a woman’s perception of the baby in her womb
now makes that determination. One child the mother
considers to be her offspring, while the next she
might not. In this sense, the mother decides what
value to place on the child. One child she would
fight to the death to keep, the other she gives away
for a price. Should a mother make these sort of
decisions? Does this come close to the idea of
assigning value arbitrarily to human beings?
There are other questions. Could this possibly
be a form of baby selling, or even slavery? Babies
on demand, and for a price? True, in adoption a
price is paid also. This is to pay for legal fees and
other expenses, though. In surrogate motherhood,
however, the couple could be said to be paying
for a baby to be manufactured. In adoption, the
baby is already there. In surrogate motherhood,
however, the baby must be produced, and this for
a price. Should this be done?
These are not questions that should be taken
lightly. Whichever direction our society chooses
to go, it will almost certainly affect the shape of
our future. The effort should be put forth now to
study the issues involved, so we can be aware of
any negative consequences. We must look before
we leap, lest we find that the situation we leapt
into is worse than the one we had left.
Gay rights activists
lobby to repeal laws
Michael Hardwick, a bartender from Atlanta,
Ga., didn’t like the way he was being treated so
he went to court.
No, not People’s Court but all the way to the
Supreme Court.
Hardwick was arrested in 1982, in his own
bedroom for having sex with another man. He went
to the courts to challenge the arrest and anti-sodomy
laws, but was unsuccessful when the Supreme Court
refused last fall to give protection to “private
homosexual activities by consenting adults.”
Now, in an effort to repeal and reform the anti-
sodomy laws, several activist groups have now
formed to lobby legislators in Washington, D.C.,
and several state capitals. Officials are now starting
to feel the pressure from such groups as the National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Coalition for
Privacy. And not much time at all had passed before
the Lesbian-Gay Rights Lobby of Texas was formed
to counter the Supreme Court’s decision.
There are 25 states that have anti-sodomy laws
that make oral and anal intercourse illegal. Texas
and four other states make such crimes illegal only
for homosexuals. It is these laws that have led
lobbyist groups to cry out for their “civil liber-
ties.”
Before our congressmen and legislators decide
whether or not to repeal and reform the laws, they
should consider the far-reaching effects.
Repealing anti-sodomy laws would undoubtedly
accomodate gays and lesbians, but heterosexuals
as well.
Trig SVggDGATt CCM/SCnO/tf
NT at unrest over MCI scam
I think this MCI scam is getting to
NT.
Aside from the “phone sex” edi-
torial, the MCI investigation was about
all my friends and I talked about today
at lunch. Not that my mealtime con-
versation is the barometer for NT’s
collective sanity, but the fact that some
students are posing as MCI agents in
order to collect payment for the illegal
phone calls is.
It seems that breaking MCI codes is
not all that difficult. I heard one person
say that his roommate found the illegal
codes by spelling out obscene words
on his telephone until one worked. (It
makes you wonder what MCI was
thinking about wheri it made up the
codes.) 1 heard someone else say that
a good computer hack could figure out
a valid code within a matter of minutes.
The high-speed computer simply tries
six-digit numbers until one works.
Stephanie
v.- -; McCollum
IN THE SPIRIT of stuntmen and
scientists who publicize their daring
feats, I advise you not to try this, at
home or anywhere else. Not only
because Dr. Greg Sawyer, assistant dean
of students, and MCl’s lawyers also
advise against it, but because it’s pretty
dumb.
Jules Wilson, another Daily staff
member, used to have an MCI number
that was being abused. When she
received bills that totaled more than
$4,500, she said she “freaked.”
Marfa, her home town, is not that far
away.
The moral to the story is that she
reported the offense, and refused (rightly
so) to pay the bill. When customers do
this, MCI looks for payment elsewhere.
Which they are doing.
To think that anyone in his or her
right mind would complacently pay for
other people to illegally use his or her
MCI code is pretty stupid. And to think
that a company the size of MCI cannot
or will not find the cheaters and either
make them pay up or make them wish
that they had, shows, well, a certain
lack of mental competence.
In the midst of the madness, at least
one clown comes up with the idea of
posing as an MCI agent. I suppose
thinking that some students are so scared
of the investigation that they will fall
for such a ploy is fairly realistic, if you
exclude the meeting at McDonald's that
the phony phone-man set up with people
whom he knew were abusing the access
codes.
A company with as many assets as
MCI could afford Chili's, at least.
Perhaps the impostor really is “just
having some fun," as Detective Marvin
Richardson of the NT Police Department
said. Let’s hope that’s all it was, for
two reasons. “Fun” doesn’t hurt
anyone, so if he was just having fun,
maybe no one believed his act. Let’s
hope they didn’t.
week that publicity of the investigation
may damage NT’s reputation.
I don’t know what would hurt the
school more, the thought that NT
students are dishonest, or the evidence
that some of them are apparently lacking
intelligence.
What an image for the university to
get with all the marketing efforts it has
been making lately. NT raised the
requirements for admission not too long
ago. I wonder if it should add a test
for common sense, in light of the current
shortage of said quality.
It could be sort of like a drug test.
We could even use the same format.
The intelligence version of the blood
test might involvd poking someone’s
finger and seeing if he or she has enough
sense to stop the bleeding. Instead of
being asked to walk a straight line and
touch their noses, those being tested
could be required to dial their own long
distance access numbers.
ALSO, IF HE WAS just having fun,
maybe he didn’t really think such a ploy
would work. Let’s hope he didn’t. For
his sake.
Sawyer told the Daily earlier this
NO PASS-FAIL OPTION for this
test. Grades would be assigned on a
continuum. One end could be reserved
for those who proved beyond a reason-
able doubt that they had sense enough
to stay out of the dean’s office. The
other end, for those who didn’t know
how to pay a phone bill, would be
labeled “Too Many Loose Connec-
tions.”
Too many screws loose, and NT
could find itself the butt of jokes that
used to be applied to Texas A&M,
which has also found itself wrangling
with students’ abuse of MCI access
codes.
Or maybe someone will come up with
a new breed of gags. MCI jokes,
anyone?
Journalists shun money for food in order to write
If there is one thing journalism professors
consistently say to their students, it’s “food ain’t
everything.”
That's usually their response when students ask
them what salaries are like in the newspaper
business. It’s not that journalism professors are
cynical about food. They just think luxuries such
as eating every day should be left to high-income
folks, like plumbers who work on Sundays, or
doctors.
Journalism professors will tell students that,
“although you will be paid about the same as a
scrub brush, there is a fact of far greater conse-
quence — touching the lives of readers every day.
If that means not putting bread on the table during
the week, so be it.”
Andrew
Agatston
I’M OLD FASHIONED. I like food. Preferably
three times a day plus late at night. And 1 was
conveying my feelings about food via AT&T to
a friend in Houston last week. He’s a first-year
student at the UT Medical school there and when
he’s not studying, he eats.
“Mike, you don’t know how lucky you are,”
I said. "Pretty soon you'll be making enough
money not only to put bread on your table, but
maybe mine, too. Many journalists can’t, you
know. My professors tell me so.”
He scoffed as medical students sometimes do.
“Anybody can find ways of making extra money
if they put their mind to it. Andrew,” he said.
"They just have to be resourceful.”
As an example, Mike used the “human test
tube" method of making extra cash. He told me
that many of the departments at the Houston
medical school will pay enormous sums of money
to volunteers. Tne volunteers, in turn, must
dispossess their body for a few hours so the
researchers can run various tests.
"The Department of Pharmaceutical Studies
will give you $1000 for half a day of testing,”
he said. “They put you under an anesthetic, and
while you’re asleep they give you all kinds of
drugs to see how your body reacts.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?"
“I’m going to just say No to drugs,” I said.
“OKAY,” HE SAID. “I respect that stance.
There’s a chance you might overdose during the
tests and never wake up anyway."
"Next!”
Mike then introduced me to the Department of
Internal Medicine and its funduscope. The fundu-
scope is a device about an inch in diameter and
roughly as long as the distance between my throat
and my stomach. These guys in Internal Medicine,
he said, will give me $600 for several hours of
research.
“The researchers stick the scope down your
throat to your stomach," Mike said, "and watch
your stomach grumble and digest food and stuff.
They also sample stomach gases, Med students
are prime subjects for this study because we're
always getting bleeding ulcers."
"Does the test hurt?”
He scoffed again. “You’ll hate life the entire
time, but it is $600."
The money sounded good, but I wasn’t so sure
putting an 18-inch pipe down my throat was my
cup of tea. Mike sensed this, so he changed the
subject to the Department of Microbiology’s study,
"How 'bout one for $400?" he asked. "These
guys in microbiology are a little weird, but harmless
for the most part.”
“Because of the added expense for crackers,
probably."
“That’s still a little drastic for me," I said,
“Isn’t there anything that is enjoyable?”
He thought for a few seconds. "Well, there’s
a sperm donor program for $30 a visit. They use
the sperm for artificial insemination or for the
study of abnormal sperm, whichever shoe fits.”
“I’d hate to be called abnormal, at least below
the belt.”
“What about being a blood donor for $20 a
pint?” he asked.
“I don’t think so. You know, needles and
everything.”
“I’LL BITE.”
“Okay," he said. "They infect you with the
South American amoeba so you get Montezuma's
revenge real bad. Basically you get $400 for sitting
on the toilet all weekend.”
“I’m a little shaky about drinking amoebas,”
1 said. “Why don’t they just feed you Chili?”
“Or the next time you get the flu, you can
blow your nose into a Kleenex and sell it to the
Department of Infectious Diseases for $10.”
"Now that’s more my speed!" I said. "Seri-
ously, Mike, those other studies would probably
kill me.
“Well, they could still use your corpse,
he said, “but you probably wouldn’t get paid."
The North Texas Daily
70»h Year
North Texas State University
Southwestern Journalism Congress
Denton, Texas
Member of the
assoc iaTeD
coneciaTe
pRessi
PACEMAKER 6 TIMES
ALL-AMERICAN 77 TIMES
The North Texas Daily, student newspaper of North Texas State University,
is published Tuesday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters
and is published weekly during the summer sessions. The Daily is not
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Richards, Joey D. The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 69, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 12, 1987, newspaper, February 12, 1987; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth561750/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.