Former gubernatorial candidate debates abortion

By LARA HYDE
Collegian Staff Writer

To some people in the audience, the "Abortion: Right or Wrong?" debate on Friday seemed more like a pro-life forum than a discussion of conflicting attitudes.

"It seemed like a pep rally for the anti-choice club," said Ned Melmed (freshman-microbiology).

Amid 60 people, Peg Luksik, 1994 independent candidate for governor, preached about pro-life attitudes and Steve Halperin (graduate-plant physiology) defended the pro-choice movement. The debate at the 101 Classroom/Office Building was part of the College Pro-Life Conference hosted by Penn State Students for Life.

Melmed said it was not fair to match a nationally renowned debater for life against an inexperienced debater. Halperin said he is not affliliated with any pro-choice organizations, but he was contacted by a Penn State Students for Life member to speak.

David Ellerbrock, adviser of Penn State Students for Life, said Halperin was asked and he accepted. He added that he thought that there was an imbalance due to the fact that Halperin was unable to construct a logical argument.

"It's always the pro-lifers that want to debate -- not the pro-choicers," Ellerbrock said.

When Luksik took the microphone, she spoke calmly as she stood in front of the audience, leaning against the desk behind her. She began with a brief biographical background that led to her pro-life position. Luksik then discussed abortions by rape and incest victims.

"I've never met a woman pregnant with an exception," she said. "I've only met women pregnant with babies."

Luksik said that the abortion is not really about the nature of the child -- it's about the nature of the mother. She added that women were given the gift of being life-bearers, and abortion denies that gift. Luksik said abortion violates "the natural order." In protecting and cherishing all life, Luksik said, society is protecting and cherishing all. In contrast, she saw abortion as leading to a decay of the structure of society.

"It doesn't help women. It kills children," she said. Later she added, "Abortion preys on the youngest and the most helpless."

Halperin, seeming somewhat nervous, said the pro-life movement was hypocritical because many pro-lifers support the death penalty and euthanasia.

He added that just because he views something as a life, it does not make it a life. However, Halperin's postion on the issue was not quite clear. At several points during the debate he was open-minded about the issue.

"The taking of a human life is not necessarily a murder," Halperin said. "Abortion is an evil, but there are worse evils."

He argued that human beings are sinful, therefore, abortion is part of the natural order. He added that, historically, abortions and infanticide have occurred for a long time.

Halperin also directed the argument toward the financial side of the abortion issue, saying that there are not enough resources available to support a society without abortion.

Although the audience maintained a predominantly pro-life status, some of the people in attendance did not completely discredit Halperin because they believe that these debates are beneficial to getting the ideas in the open.

"You don't see debates a lot of times. It's kind of rare. It's good just to see both sides talking no matter who it is," said April Steppe, president of Penn State Students for Life.

Steppe was not the only one in attendance that felt the need for more debates.

"I think it's a very important issue that needs to be discussed more often," said Rosemary Przybysz (junior-electrical engineering).