Letters

Abortion not about morality I was appalled by
Irene Basa’s ignorance in her column, “Government
already enacts morality in laws” (Viewpoint, Jan. 24). Being
pro-abortion is not about being able to prove whose morals are
right and whose are wrong. That would be impossible. It’s
about choice! It’s about the ability to decide for yourself
and your body what is right and wrong. When it’s unwanted,
pregnancy is an attack on a woman’s body. It can pose a risk
to her already existing life. Being pregnant can get a teenager
kicked out of her house, onto the streets, into temporary shelters,
and onto welfare. Being pregnant can get a woman kicked out of
school and her job. If a woman wants an abortion, she’ll have
it, legally, illegally, safely, or harmfully. Abortion rights
advocates do not want their morals “enacted as a law,”
as Basa claimed. The right to have an abortion already is a law,
and it has been for thirty years.

Karisma Rodriguez, Second-year, English

Homeless on campus a problem Reading that a
dead homeless man had been found on campus did a better job waking
me up than my early morning physics lecture series. When I was
touring schools as a high school student and found homeless
panhandling on the campus of Berkeley, I decided that UCLA would be
the place for me. It wasn’t until a few months ago when
fellow students informed me that they had a difficult time studying
in the lounge late at night because a homeless woman was yelling at
them for disrupting her sleep that I realized we might have the
same problem. Apparently, she had been taking over the lounge as a
motel on a nightly basis. Learning of the past weekend’s
news, it has occurred to me that maybe we are beginning to have a
problem about the homeless entering the UCLA campus. Students
should not have to deal with panhandlers on their own campus.
Finding one of them dead on campus is the last straw. It is time
for someone to take control of this issue. Stephanie
Herczog Fourth-year, astrophysics

Price of a ruined program In case you were
entertaining any ideas about keeping Steve Lavin on after the
season, I thought I’d call your attention to an article in
the Daily News, “Now this: Lavin cheered on the road”
(Sports, Jan 26). The article recounted Saturday’s game
against Cal, “As one of the signs that greeted Lavin read:
“˜Hair gel: $5. Buyout: $1 million. Ruined Program:
Priceless.'” We went on to lose by eleven points.

Scott Anderson Fourth-year, business
economics

Abortion laws reflect values In her Monday
article “Government Already Enacts Morality in Laws,”
Irene Basa argues that we “need a law to abide by,” and
so the government should outlaw abortion. However, I fail to
understand why the law must prohibit abortion ““ as opposed to
allowing free choice. Why should the moral values of
anti-abortionists be placed above those of their opponents? Laws
must reflect the values of the governed. Citizens from all
religious and social backgrounds have no problem with theft and
murder being considered crimes. However, the same cannot be said of
anti-abortion statutes ““ it would not only misrepresent but
also discount the beliefs of many. As long as abortion remains a
debate of morals, any law prohibiting abortion should not stand
““ and will not stand. Wei Jun Yu Fourth-year,
computer science