<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>Marta: </BLOCKQUOTE><< I don't think women in France are in any danger of having their </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">
<BR></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">reproductive rights thwarted. This ruling clearly shows that the medical
<BR>model is applied to disability without any regard for the social model as
<BR>put forth by disabled activists. >>
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<BR>I am not defending the position of the French court. My concern is where the
<BR>logic of your argument leads you. As long as the social model of disability,
<BR>as you call it, is presented as the only, or the overriding, claim, without
<BR>respect for women's reproductive freedom, I see it as leading to a position
<BR>for restricting that freedom. Even if what you say about France were true,
<BR>and I do not know if it is, it is not the only country in the world. Pro-life
<BR>forces in countries where reproductive freedom is at risk make precisely the
<BR>same argument you are making. We need to recognize that there is more than
<BR>one legitimate claim in this situation.
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<BR>Leo Casey
<BR>United Federation of Teachers
<BR>260 Park Avenue South
<BR>New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)
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<BR>Power concedes nothing without a demand.
<BR>It never has, and it never will.
<BR>If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
<BR>Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who
<BR>want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and
<BR>lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
<BR><P ALIGN=CENTER>-- Frederick Douglass --
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