May 3, 1974
BOSTON - A heightened campaign by anti-abortion forces in
Massachusetts has led to the indictment of a doctor for
manslaughter because of a legal abortion performed in October
1973.
Four other doctors at Boston City Hospital have also been indicted on charges of "illegal dissection" of fetuses obtained following legal abortions.
Dr. Kenneth Edelin, a Black physician who is the chief resident in obstetrics and gynecology at Boston City Hospital, is charged with the death of a fetus reportedly 24 weeks old.
In charging manslaughter, the grand jury is clearly trying to force the courts to rule on the question of when a fetus becomes viable. The Supreme Court, in the January 1973 decision legalizing abortion in the United States, defined viability as that time when a fetus is "potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid."
May 2, 1949
By a seven to one majority the 65,000 members of Ford
River Rouge Local 600 UAW-CIO voted for strike action against
the speedup in the Ford Motor Company. Earlier in the week
members of Ford Lincoln Local 900 also voted overwhelmingly
for strike action. 1. Full reinstatement of the 47 fired
workers; 2. Guaranteed take-home pay for certain employees of
the brake shoe department; 3. Dismissal of the corporation's
suit against the union for "damages" from the alleged
slowdown.
Recently over 1,000 members of UAW Local 154 demonstrated before an office of the Michigan Unemployment Commission demanding unemployment payments. The Hudson Motor Car Corporation has followed a coldly calculated policy of operating barely 15-20 hours a week.
Meanwhile the company has instituted a major speedup. Many Hudson workers have been thrown on city relief rolls and private charities.