The month of March is one in which women and families arecelebrated. Today is International Women's Day, focusing on the keyrole of women in all aspects of life - at home, at work, ingovernment and politics and more. And March 10 is ProviderAppreciation Day, a day to honor those committed and brave workerswho staff the family planning clinics of this nation and providewomen with much-needed reproductive health care and services.
We believe that today is a time for the United States to honorthe commitment made at the 1994 International Conference onPopulation and Development in Cairo. This conference called foraccess to quality and affordable reproductive health care; reductionsin infant, child and maternal mortality, and gender equality,including girls' access to education. Many of these goals can be metby ensuring access to family planning. Family planning addresses allof these issues.
Indeed, for many women in poor nations, family planning servicesare their only source of health care. The United States madecommitments in Cairo that have not been kept. International familyplanning has been held hostage by the stubborn attitudes of a smallnumber of male legislators. We need to take this day, March 8, andtell our leaders to do all they can to keep the commitments made tothe women and families of the world on international family planning.Too many women and families are literally dying for this help.Wednesday shares equal importance. The men and women who workin family planning clinics are truly heroes. They often must braveharassment that follows them from their work to their homes and caninclude death threats (and in some cases, injury and even murder)from those who oppose reproductive choice and family planning. Wejoin with others across this nation in saying thank-you to thesehealth care workers, physicians, nurses and office and clinic staff.They truly deserve our praise and support for their compassion andcaring and for the important work that they do for women andfamilies, often under trying circumstances.The National Council of Jewish Women is committed tointernational family planning and to ensuring that reproductivechoice is a right for all women in this nation, and in the world. Weask that others join us this week by telling our elected officials tohonor our commitment and by offering personal thanks to those whocarry out the crucial work of family planning in this nation. Wehave heroes among us. They deserve to be recognized and thanked.Carole Levine, chairwoman,Illinois State Public AffairsCommittee, National Councilof Jewish Women, EvanstonShow your supportAs Chicago celebrates International Women's Day today, it isinspiring to hear of events occurring around the world that lend hopefor the lives of women everywhere. Qatar (located between SaudiArabia and the United Arab Emirates) today will hold its firstdemocratic elections. Furthermore, it will mark the first time thatwomen in any of the countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council willhave the right to vote and run for office. One can only hope thatQatar will inspire other countries in the region to follow suit.It is important to keep the women's movement in perspective aswe celebrate International Women's Day. There is still much progressto be made. But keep in mind that the first International Women'sDay, in 1911, was attended by more than 1 million people who ralliedfor the right to vote and hold public office in Austria, Denmark,Germany, Sweden and the United States. We have come a long way sincethe first International Women's Day, so if you happen to walk by arally marking the event, stop and cheer and help us celebrate ouraccomplishments. In doing so, you will be encouraging us along ourpath to equality.Michelle Dewelen,executive board member,National Organizationfor Women, Chicago chapterCancel debtIt is good that President Clinton is going to visit CentralAmerica this week. It is also good that his administration hasintroduced an emergency request for disaster relief andreconstruction for Central America and the Caribbean in the aftermathof the hurricanes that devastated the region. The package comes to$956 million, bringing total U.S. contribution to date to $1.2billion. This is serious and generous aid and we hope it will bepassed quickly by the Congress, but it is not enough.The Central American countries are saddled with unjust andunpayable foreign debts. El Salvador has a debt burden of $2.8billion; Guatemala, $3.7 billion. Two countries hardest hit byHurricane Mitch, Honduras and Nicaragua, had the biggest debt burdenin the region: $4.4 billion and $6.1 billion, respectively. Thatmeans that these countries have been paying back about $1 million perday to service the debt. We all know where that money comes from.Nicaragua, for example, has the highest per-capita debt in theworld. Every child comes into the world owing $1,300 to the UnitedStates and other governments, private banks, the InternationalMonetary Fund and other international financial institutions. Inorder to make these payments, the Nicaraguan government's spending oneducation dropped from $42 per pupil in 1984 to $18 in 1997. Only 23percent of children finish sixth grade.We call on President Clinton to cancel all the debt owed to theU.S. government, which is between 2 percent and 3 percent of thattotal debt, and to use his administration's influence to move the IMFand all international and private financial institutions to do thesame. This is in line with the Jubilee 2000 Campaign, of which ourorganization is a part, which calls for the cancellation of theforeign debt of the world's poorest countries in Africa, Asia andLatin America. To prevent a repeat of this gross injustice, thecampaign calls for a total restructuring of the internationalfinancial system with transparency in all its operations andparticipation of all levels of civil society in any futurearrangements.Daniel P. Driscoll-Shaw,economic justice programcoordinator, Chicago ReligiousLeadership Networkon Latin AmericaSubstantial penaltiesNeil Steinberg's Feb. 28 column, 'We need death penalty despiteerrors in justice,' puts capital punishment in an intriguingperspective.'All systems have flaws, occasionally,' writes Steinberg.'Airplanes are guided into mountains. Stoplights fail at dangerousintersections. Surgical teams botch operations. And, yes, innocentpeople are executed by the criminal justice system. Nobody suggestswe stop flying, or driving, or operating, because of the rare flukes.Why are executions different?'The answer is that executions should not be viewed differently.That said, consider that since 1977, when capital punishment wasreinstated in Illinois, slightly more than 300 people have beensentenced to death and 11 of those - approximately 3 percent - havebeen proven innocent.Now assume for a moment that a design flaw resulted in acomparable rate of error in air travel. In other words, what if 3percent of all flights crashed, killing those on board?If that were the case, U.S. commercial flights would result inroughly 19 million fatalities a year.The question Steinberg more appropriately might have asked isthis: How many Americans would fly if air travel entailed the degreeof risk that the death penalty does?Rob Warden, Lake ViewBan handgun huntingThe legislative proposal to utilize handguns for hunting ismortifying. The outlandish endeavor would inevitably increase thedreadful incident of homicide in addition to justifying abominableblood sports.Society is besieged as heinous violence induces petrifyingepisodes of carnage every day. To engender peace, it is imperativeto ban all firearms.Brien Comerford, GlenviewFind the truthRegarding the recent wrongful convictions of Death Row inmates,it should be pointed out that this is nothing new and includes casesother than the death penalty.In the early 1970s, I was convicted of a murder I nevercommitted and served nearly 14 years in prison. I was never able toclear my name, though I did appeal my conviction. While in prison Ieven discovered new evidence that proves my innocence. I'm willingto take a DNA test to clear my name. (DNA testing was unheard of atthe time of my trial.)Since there is no statute of limitations on murder cases,likewise, there should not be a limit on reopening older cases - notjust death penalty cases - to uncover the truth. If errors weremade, whether intentional or not, they still need to be corrected ifjustice is ever to be served.Bill Schutz, Des PlainesEasy Y2K fixYour news story ('CIA fears millennium bug trouble worldwide:Foreign ships, missiles could falter,' Feb. 25) could be cause forsome alarm among the masses. I have a suggestion - for the missileproblem, at least.Why not just drain the gas tanks on them?Chuck Geier, New Lenox
