要大人,还是要孩子?!

第一次听说"要大人,还是要孩子"这个奇怪的问题是几十年前从一个少时挚友那里,他是一个很有些才气的青年,可惜早在我上大学时就因风湿性心脏病猝然而亡.他的死,让我难过了很长时间,第一次感到生命的脆弱与无常.他曾骄傲地告诉我,他的出生是他父亲做出的一个伟大决定的结果.     

Baby Jane Doe in the media

A review of national television, magazine, and newspaper coverage of the case of Baby Jane Doe indicates that most of it lacked perspective and context; stories were generally incomplete and often imprecise; reporting was sometimes inaccurate; and overall, inadequate attention was paid to the medical, legal, philosophical, and social implications of the case. Human-interest and political elements of the story were generally well covered. Even after taking account of the pressures and constraints of daily and weekly news reporting, we conclude that the print press and television could have done a better job without devoting more space or time to the story. This could have been done by assigning reporters with greater expertise and by paying more attention to the needs of a hypothetical "reasonable reader."     

The Principles of Labor Legislation Have Gone into Effect

The Principles of Labor Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics, adopted by the USSR Supreme Soviet on July 15, 1970, went into effect January 1, 1971. The Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issued an order on November 30, 1970, defining the procedure for introducing the Principles of Labor Legislation.     

Introduction to the Baby Jane Doe papers

A conference was held at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in October 1984 to discuss the controversy concerning treatment of a newborn with severe congenital defects that became known as the Baby Jane Doe case. Fox provides some background information on the case to introduce a set of of six articles consisting of papers delivered at the conference. These articles deal with historical aspects of the treatment debate (Stanley J. Reiser), problems of clinical decision making (John M. Freeman), the legal issues involved (John A. Robertson), coverage of the case by the media (Stephen Klaidman and Tom L. Beauchamp), federal efforts to regulate the treatment of handicapped newborns (Lawrence D. Brown), and the alliance that arose between opponents of abortion and advocates of the rights of the handicapped (Constance Paige and Elisa B. Karnofsky).     

The antiabortion movement and Baby Jane Doe

In the early 1980s, the leadership of the antiabortion movement became involved in a campaign to establish legal rights to extraordinary medical care for seriously handicapped newborns. Armed with political contacts in the Reagan administration and Congress, and allied with advocates for the disabled, the antiabortion movement searched for a test case to guide through the courts. Antiabortion advocate Lawrence Washburn found such a case in Baby Jane Doe, who was being treated at Stony Brook Medical Center. The movement went on to amend the Child Abuse Act to include protections for handicapped newborns. Activists in the movement chose the issue of Baby Jane Doe because they believed it would attract welcome publicity, give them the appearance of supporting civil rights, and enhance their argument as to the legal rights of the fetus and thus strengthen the case against abortion. The movement was partially successful in obtaining its goals.