Last Clinic Standing Essay Example

Last Clinic Standing Essay Example Last Clinic Standing Paper Last Clinic Standing Paper   Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Last Clinic Standing† is a thoughtfully written article by Amanda Robb. She discusses the only Planned Parenthood abortion clinic left in South Dakota, putting it in the larger context of the heated abortion debate in that state. Abortions not necessary to save the life of the mother were banned on March 6, 2006. Robb looks at the abortion issue from both sides – the pro-choice and the pro-life.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Robb sets the scene for her article by describing what it takes to get a doctor to perform abortions in South Dakota: the doctors must be flown in from another state, which in this case is Minnesota. The clinic itself has been built and reinforced to discourage attacks from militant pro-lifers, though these individuals do protest at the site. Abortions are performed once a week, on Mondays. Robb describes the abortion process itself, using a matter-of-fact tone. She does not gloss over the fact that a tube is inserted in the woman’s uterus and it will be connected to a machine that will suck out the fetus. The fetus will be placed – in pieces – in a glass jar and disposed of as all medical waste.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Robb transitions to the story of Nancy, who is at the clinic to get an abortion that day. She has a 6 year old child and a slightly younger boyfriend, so it is not the right time to add a new child to the family. While many would insist that Nancy take responsibility for her choice, it seems she already has: birth control simply didn’t work for her. Leslie Unruh is a staunch supporter of abstinence (and most fascinatingly, a descendent of Laura Ingalls Wilder) and she insists that there is no excuse for an unwanted pregnancy. In her opinion, â€Å"sex creates many other ills, too- cervical cancer, bad grades, and poor female self-esteem.† Robb takes offense at this, admitting that she did sleep around and doesn’t feel those negative effects. Even so, the move to promote abstinence has President Bush’s approval and a $113 million budget.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Robb approaches this article not only from the view of a writer looking for a good story, but as a woman who can relate to the plight of the abortion doctor – her uncle Bart was a doctor who performed abortions until he was assassinated in his home. Bart’s experience with abortion – and especially repeat abortion taught him that the real solution was to increase access to birth control and make it free to those who need it. This is the case in Denmark, which has had mandatory sex education/birth control programs in schools since 1970 and has a much lower abortion rate than the United States.   Before Bart’s death, he was hounded by protesters with whom he was willing to make a deal. He said if they would stop harassing him and his family (he particularly didn’t like them following his kids to school and asking them not to grow up to be â€Å"killers like daddy†), they could set up a table inside the clinic where he worked two days a week and pass out pro-life information. The pro-lifers, of course, did not accept this offer. Their bottom line was that they were only willing to teach abstinence.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Robb drives into the state capital of Pierre, where she sees Representative Roger Hunt, the prime abortion opponent and sponsor of the anti-abortion bill. After listening to a lecture on abstinence, Hunt became an active crusader against abortion and plans to continue to support legislation that â€Å"chips away at Roe v. Wade†.   He has no sympathy for incest victims as he insists that studies have been done that prove that the children of incest often prove to be the most intelligent in the family. He feels that taking a human life is worse than rape – one must wonder if he has ever consulted with a rape victim on this theory.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Robb understands his pro-life position, even though she doesn’t agree with it. It is her willingness to listen to all sides of the abortion debate that encourages even the most militant pro-lifer to open up to her about their views. While Robb inserts sardonic comments here and there (the aforementioned â€Å"I slept around and it didn’t hurt me† remark, for example), she writes about both sides of the argument fairly, without making the pro-life supporters appear uneducated or naà ¯ve.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Robb’s most prevalent complaint is that anyone would support not teaching contraception to sexually active teenagers. She ponders whether birth control education is more like a seat belt â€Å"which protects me but doesn’t make me drive crazily†, or overdraft protection – â€Å"which also protects me while occasionally enticing me to spend recklessly†.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Robb ties up the article by going back to Nancy and her boyfriend, admitting that Nancy wasn’t one of the women who needed to be protected due to rape, but just due to her own bad luck. She ponders what Nancy’s options might be if the Senate bill holds and abortion is absolutely banned. Nancy would have to choose between having an illegal abortion (which she might have to perform on herself), giving up the baby, or keeping a baby who will only bring more stress into an already strained relationship. These were the only options a woman could decide between pre-Roe v. Wade.   Ã‚  Ã‚   According to CNN.com, the anti-abortion bill failed on November 7th with 148,664 votes supporting the ban on abortion and 185,934 votes to keep abortion legal. The bill failed to pass with only 56% of the vote against the bill. It is clear that South Dakota has not seen the last of anti-abortion legislation attempts. Amanda Robb’s work is far from over.

The Fujita Scale for Tornado Damage

The Fujita Scale for Tornado Damage Note: The U.S. National Weather Service has updated the Fujita Scale of tornado intensity to a new Enhanced Fujita Scale. The new Enhanced Fujita Scale continues to use F0-F5 ratings (shown below) but is based on a additional calculations of wind and damage. It was implemented in the United States on February 1, 2007. Tetsuya Theodore Ted Fujita (1920-1998) is famous for developing the Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale, a scale used to measure the strength of a tornado based on the damage it produces. Fujita was born in Japan and studied the damage caused by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. He developed his scale in 1971 while working as a meteorologist with the University of Chicago. The Fujita Scale (also known as the F-Scale) typically consists of six ratings from F0 to F5, with damage rated as light to incredible. Sometimes, an F6 category, the inconceivable tornado is included in the scale. Since the Fujita Scale is based on damage and not really wind speed or pressure, it is not perfect. The primary problem is that a tornado can only be measured in the Fujita Scale after it has occurred. Secondly, the tornado can not be measured if there is no damage when the tornado occurs in an area without any features to be damaged. Nonetheless, the Fujita Scale has proven to be a reliable measurement of the strength of a tornado. Tornado damage needs to be examined by experts in order to assign a Fujita Scale rating to the tornado. Sometimes tornado damage appears worse than it actually is and sometimes, the media may overemphasize certain aspects of the damage tornadoes can cause. For example, straw can be driven into telephone poles at speeds as low as 50 mph. The Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale F0 - Gale With winds of less than 73 miles per hour (116 kph), F0 tornadoes are called gale tornadoes and cause some damage to chimneys, damage sign boards, and break branches off of trees and topple shallow-rooted trees. F1 - Moderate With winds from 73 to 112 mph (117-180 kph), F1 tornadoes are called moderate tornadoes. They peel surfaces off of roofs, push mobile homes off of their foundations or even overturn them, and push cars off of the road. F0 and F1 tornadoes are considered weak; 74% of all measured tornadoes from 1950 to 1994 are weak. F2 - Significant With winds from 113-157 mph (181-253 kph), F2 tornadoes are called significant tornadoes and cause considerable damage. They can tear the roofs off of light frame houses, demolish mobile homes, overturn railroad boxcars, uproot or snap large trees, lift cars off the ground, and turn light objects into missiles. F3 - Severe With winds from 158-206 mph (254-332 kph), F3 tornadoes are called severe tornadoes. They can tear the roofs and walls off of well-constructed houses, uproot the trees in a forest, overturn entire trains, and can throw cars. F2 and F3 tornadoes are considered strong and account for 25% of all tornadoes measured from 1950 to 1994. F4 - Devastating With winds from 207-260 mph (333-416 kph), F4 tornadoes are called devastating tornadoes. They level well-constructed houses, blow structures with weak foundations some distances, and turn large objects into missiles. F5 - Incredible With winds from 261-318 mph (417-509 kph), F5 tornadoes are called incredible tornadoes. They lift and blow strong houses, debark trees, cause car-sized objects to fly through the air, and cause incredible damage and phenomena to occur. F4 and F5 tornadoes are called violent and account for a mere 1% of all tornadoes measured from 1950 to 1994. Very few F5 tornadoes occur. F6 - Inconceivable With winds above 318 mph (509 kph), F6 tornadoes are considered inconceivable tornadoes. No F6 has ever been recorded and the wind speeds are very unlikely. It would be difficult to measure such a tornado as there would be no objects left to study. Some continue to measure tornadoes up to F12 and Mach 1 (the speed of sound) at 761.5 mph (1218.4 kph) but again, this a hypothetical modification of the Fujita Scale.