European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 31, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes James j. Kilpatrick partial overturn of Roe is. Wade predicted x1tpm via 00 i sixteen years have passed since the supreme court s decision in Roe is. Wade that struck Down the abortion Laws of 40 states and wrote into the Constitution a Brand new interpretation of a pregnant woman s  now the Bells Are tolling. Attorney general Rich Ard Thornburgh has predicted that the decision will be overturned and presi Dent Bush has called for an end to the right of abortion. The Means toward that end Are at hand. The court has agreed to hear arguments in William l. Webster v. Reproductive health services. Webster attorney general of Missouri is defending a state Law that lays certain requirements on physicians before they May perform an abortion. The Law prohibits the use of state funds for encouraging or counsel ing a woman to have an abortion not necessary to save her life and it inhibit abortions in other ways. Under the act which was to have become effective in 1986, a physician must explain the risks of abortion to his patient. Another Section requires that after the first 16 weeks All abortions must be performed in hospitals rather than in outpatient clinics. The record contains testimony that a Hospital abortion costs $2,500, an outpatient abortion between$350 and $650. Before the Law could become opera Tive a group of physicians and nurses sued for summary judgment declaring it unconstitutional under the Rule of Roe v. Wade. A . District court agreed the Law amounted to an impermissible intrusion into the privacy of the doctor patient relationship. It trampled upon rights of free speech. The 8th circuit court of appeals affirmed and the state appealed. The . Solicitor general Sid ing with Missouri has filed a Brief saying that if the High court is prepared to re consider Roe this Case presents an appropriate Opportunity to do  in its essentials the Missouri Law scarcely can be distinguished from a Sim Ilar statute in Pennsylvania a statute Walter r. Mears  Justice us dec lao Coul a takes Aboc a on p years Aga but men not Laws r was decided by athe Pennsylvania Case was decided vote of 7-2, with justices Rehnquist and composition of the composition the court has changed. What was unconstitutional in june 1986 May not be unconstitutional in june 1 989. As court observers Many times have remarked More in honesty than a cynicism ours is in fact a Glern ment of White dissenting from the opinion writ ten by Justice Blackmun. Of the seven who formed the majority in 1973 Only three remain. Since then the seats that y Burger Douglas Stew judges have changed. White and Rehnquist have vehemently opposed Roe from the very beginning White termed the court s 1973 decision an exercise in raw judicial Power Rehnquist consistently has regarded Roe not As jurisprudence but As legislation a few Days ago the Vwashington Post dug out some confidential memoranda from the papers of the late Justice Douglas Blackmun himself it now transpires regarded his own opinion As arbitrary and Justice Stewart feared it amounted to  it is a fair presumption that Rehn quist and White have not changed their minds. Justice o Connor dissented in the Akron abortion Case of 1983 and again in the Pennsylvania Case of 1986. Her objections in the latter Case went More to procedure than to the merits but hers is regarded As a third vote to overrule. If newcomers Scalia and Kennedy should be persuaded that Roe was a terrible piece of constitutional Law which it was there goes Roe is. Wade 5-4. My guess is that in deciding the mis Souri Case a majority will be mustered that will pay some measure of deference to the aging Justice Blackmun. Instead of junking Roe completely a Way will be found to preserve a respectable Shell. The states will be accorded Power to discourage abortion and to erect formidable obstacles in its path but at least in the earliest stages of pregnancy abortion May not be prohibited altogether. Surgeon general c. Everett Koop has taken a dismal View of the prospects. If Roe were overruled and control returned to the states it will open Pandora s Box because Well have 50 problems instead of  to those of us who believe in federalism that Prospect is not appalling at All. The states Are perfectly capable of responding to the wishes of their citizens. Their View of Liberty is at least As in formed As Justice Blackmun s. Universal press Syndicate ?1 Al f 21s of a 7an9e e Section process unemployed candidates to talk about overhauling the National convention but that a solos ess001?11 election Days during the primary season and by a Cor to thess a or a �sje"i2. A Der press rom Selack is. A Calda j a w Tuico us uni w Sci Ila Ulilla Lluc americans nominate and elect their presidents i hey ii get scant encouragement from president Bush. Bush who won once and lost once under the current system said he will play by the rules until some better ones come  i m not going to spend any time trying to redo it he said in an interview prior to his inauguration. Campaigns grow longer and More costly every time presidential primary elections multiply and for a while after each election there is talk of change in the name of Reform. It s been that Way since the democrats began changing the system nearly 20 years ago that changed the process for republicans too be cause the primary election Laws enacted by state Legislatures usually cover both sides. So far efforts at change have Only made campaigns More Complex More expensive and More time con suming. Long before Bush has been in the White House a year prospective challengers will be making their first moves toward the 1992 Campaign most of which will have to do with raising Money. Step one these Days is to set up a political action committee to bankroll preliminary operations. All told there were 38 presidential primary elections in 1988. On a single night super tuesday 20 states a dozen of them in the South chose nominating delegates by primary or caucus savvy i a. Inai was Buniea pack at summer s convention under pressure from Jesse Jacic Dele ties 80t to supp it from those sex Eficio that was part of a peacemaking package with Goy. Michael Dukakis the democratic nominee against Bush and it illustrates the reality the reformers can t alter. The nominating system if both parts ends to accommodate the candidates who master it Toga Power. La Southern democrats devised the super tuesday no Tion which was supposed to give their More conserva Tive constituencies an Early and influential voice in the contest for the 1988 democratic nominal sent the party no Clear signal the path was left open for Dukakis but it was a turning Point for the republicans As Bush came close to a sweep. Bush said Early this month that the regional concept was. Something new this time. And it proved to be a tremendous Boon for  he said other regions will Start looking at alliances that would Cluster their primaries to increase their influence the Western states some Day Are going Roget together and say Why should we be left out a the time Why should t we get in there and be up front " that s occurred to some other regions too new England made a Stab at it but wound up As an adjunct to super tuesday in part because new Hampshire a not about to give up its Premier primary to enter into a election season an y combination of Date and Region so that candidates would t spend so much time traipsing Between Dis Tant Campaign states. Bush doubts the revisionists will get far. His Skepi vil1? run -5 experience. It happens every fourth year. Bush said he d seen it coming everybody s going to go up to Harvard. And try to figure out what s wrong with the system. I Don t think you re going to redesign it he said. And he certainly in t going to try. Why should i go Al a Iowa s a Lousy idea he asked. I m her because of Iowa. Not Iowa in 88, Iowa in 80." bsh upset an Absentee Ronald Reagan in101, uses first event on the presiden Cale Dar tha vaulted him out of the Are of led to his nomination for Vic president. In 1988 Iowa was his most severe setback come it a Mere v5 columnist a the associated Pesl he th8tet that Brad perspex Ive he said perspective comes most readily to 5 of a w1 on government and politics " v a president a a washin9ton ?"ni0ns express a n the columns and cartoon son this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Sta he a soldered As representing the views of the Mars and stripes or the United states government