Why teenagers need a choice

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"YOUCAN'T POSSIBLY BE PREGNANT! I NEVER EVEN TOLD YOU ABOUT THE FACTS OF LIFE!!!"

The original of the above cartoon was donated to the National Organization for Women (NOW) by Jim Borgman of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Other celebrities donated autographed photos, TV scripts, books, and record albums. Martina Navratilova sent a pair of tennis shoes. The items were auctioned to raise funds for the pro-choice N 16 March for Women's Lives in Cincinnati.—K.C.

"Three lectures on the Mid. Three lectures: Hunter ColSpeakers: Adam Shils and May 9 Cross Currents Hall, 3206 N. Lectures and panels on antiWilton (Belmont & Wilton) war and women's move'ts. cities to be announced later.

2 SOCIALIST ACTION APRIL 1987 By KATE CINCINNATI-More than half of American teens are sexually active, but few use birth control. Each year, over a million become unintentionally pregnant. Forty percent take advantage of abortion services. Half-a-million teen mothers have and keep their babies.

Ours is the only developed nation in which teen pregnancy rates, now one in 10, have been on the rise. Black teens, 17 or younger, are eight times more likely to get pregnant than white teens. The 18 and 19 year olds are five times as likely.

What some term "an epidemic of children with children" costs $16.6 billion a year in public funds. But that figure doesn't begin to reflect the human toll.

High teenage pregnancy rates mean high infant mortality rates. Teens frequently delay pre-natal care that could prevent premature births. Hypertension and anemia plague pregnant teens. Low-birth-weight babies are common. Their babies have double the risk of dying in their first year.

Children of teen mothers often have learning disabilities and are frequently victims of child abuse by their childparents. Teen mothers attempt suicide seven times more than others their age.

Three quarters of pregnant teens never complete their education. Poor schooling coupled with sex discrimination in hiring can mean a life of poverty. Lack of daycare aggravates the problems of continuing education and getting a good job.

Sex education needed in schools Although 85 percent of the adult population want sex education in the schools, only 10 percent of the schools have such programs. In-school clinics that provide contraception information in addition to routine medical services can Educational Conferences reduce teenage pregnancies and keep students in school. Despite the success of pilot projects, only 61 such clinics are in operation around the nation.

Sex education is a part of good health care. Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund points out, VINBOREHANET CINNA EN LUMRER.

San Francisco May 8-9 "Socialism & Democracy"

Forums and lectures on the new Soviet reforms, Black liberation in history, demo racy in capitalist America, the Marxist view of future society. For more information call (415) 821-0458.

Conferences in

Chicago

dle East, Politics in the U.S., & the Fight for Workers Power" "All teens need decent, early, and consistent sex education, and the sexually active teens need access to contraception. But we need to provide decent education, not just sex education. Young people need hope for the future, and that means jobs and education.

We must maintain abortion rights to New York May 16 May 9 lege. Call (212) 873-7523.

Grand Rapids ensure that young women have the healthcare choices they need.

Pro-choice organizations like the National Organization for Women (NOW) are fighting for full reproductive rights and education. Those who oppose abortion also block such programs as in-school clinics, sex education, and public childcare.

If you want to work for real solutions to the problem of unplanned pregnancies, please join the March for Women's Lives, on May 16 in Cincinnati. NOW members and pro-choice açtivists from Ohio, Kentucky, and other states in the Great Lakes region are mobilizing for the event.

Featured speakers include Sherri O'Dell, national NOW vice president; Bill Baird, a 20-year veteran of the fight for reproductive freedom; and Sally Bingham, writer and founder of the Kentucky Foundation for Women.

For more information, contact NOW, P.O. Box 14966, Cincinnati, OH 45214. Telephone (513) 251-7722 or 731-7520. -Closing date: March 17, 1987 Editor: ALAN BENJAMIN Asst. Editor: MICHAEL SCHREIBER Staff: Paul Colvin, Suzanne Forsyth, May May Gong, David Kirschner, Hayden Perry, Joe Ryan, Carole Seligman, Kwame M.A. Somburu, Sylvia Weinstein.

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Cleveland

CLEVELAND-On Feb. 23, Cleveland Typographical Union #53 hosted a press conference called by the Northeast Ohio Anti-Apartheid Committee (NOAC) to announce plans to send busloads of Ohioans to the April 25 march in Washington.

Labor speakers included William Withers, president of Cleveland Typographical Union #53; Frank Ritzinger, International Chemigal Workers; and Deborah Bailey, organizer Hospital Workers 1199.

Religious speakers included Bill Corrigan, West Side massive labor turnout on April 25.

DC 37, consisting of over 125,000 members, is one of New York City's largest and most powerful unions. Its over 50 locals include hospital, school aid, park, library, clerical, court, construction, custodial, and technical workers. Fifty-five percent of its membership is Black. Many of its most active and militant members are women.

Members have posted leaflets at their workplaces while presentations have been given by stewards and rank and filers at local union meetings. Workers who would not otherwise be drawn into the work have done so because the union has thrown its powerful resources behind it.

Activists report that the most effective presentations in their locals have involved linking the fight against the government's pro-big-business policies abroad to their own interests as workers. Especially popular has been the Mobilization's demand, "Money for Jobs, Not for Cincinnati

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