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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Looking Back: Past opinions provide perspective

Looking Back reviews opinions published in The Spokesman-Review during this week in history.

Paying for abortions, Dec. 19, 1975

“The Medicaid program is designed to pay the medical bills of those on welfare. There has been a great deal of governmental vacillation on how to handle the abortion costs for welfare recipients.

“After the Supreme Court’s decision in 1973, the newly legalized abortions were covered by Medicaid, whether voluntary or medically required. Then in November 1974, this position was reversed, so that Medicaid funds could not be used for either type of abortion. Subsequently a Pennsylvania judge ruled that medical abortions were covered, but not those which were voluntary. Then later still a Court of Appeals ruled that voluntary abortions were indeed covered.

“This issue is again before the Supreme Court for clarification, and it has requested the Ford administration to give its view on whether or not states may deny Medicaid coverage to welfare recipients who undergo a voluntary abortion. Abortion itself, for some, is still a highly emotional subject. However, the issue here is the much narrower one of paying the costs of welfare abortions.”

The editorial concluded: “The issue of abortion is not involved here. We are speaking only of those persons on welfare who are planning to have, or who have had, an abortion. Given this set of circumstances, it is far less expensive for the government, and for the taxpayer, to permit abortions to be covered by Medicaid.”

Drunken driving, Dec. 23, 1998

An S-R editorial supported the tightening of Washington state’s drunken driving law.

“Post-holiday revelers will wake up to a healthy new surprise on New Year’s Day. The legal limit of intoxication while driving will drop from a blood-fermenting level of .10 percent to a tougher .08 in Washington state.

“That’s the level a 170-pound man reaches after four drinks in an hour on an empty stomach. A 140-pound woman would be likely to hit .08 after three drinks in an hour. That’s still a lot of alcohol consumption. The state’s new laws are designed, in part, to crack down on heavy drinkers who drive.

“We can hope they will deter criminals like James Barstad, the convicted murderer who drove his pickup through a red light at Mission and Hamilton on May 25, 1996, killing Julie Allen and Karen Sederholm. Barstad had two prior drunken driving arrests in Spokane before that accident.”

It went on to say: “But these laws should also affect the daily decisions of the rest of us. Social drinkers often have trouble remembering exactly how much they’ve drunk. They often misjudge their ability to drive. These tough new penalties should sharpen everyone’s awareness.”

The editorial concluded: “So here’s a resolve we can all add to our list of New Year’s resolutions, thanks to the state Legislature: I will not drink and drive.”