Polsky speaks on abortion rights

Though the calendar may still read September, students got a taste of a November election race last night as a candidate lashed out at his opponents stance on abortion rights. Amid a nearly silent room of 50 students at McClelland Hall, Allen Polsky, a Democratic candidate for State Representative in Delaware County, spent much of his 45-minute speech blasting recently adopted legislation which limits abortions in the state. "I think that government has no place to dictate whether a woman carries to term or not," Polsky said. Although University students cannot vote in the race, Polsky asked audience members for their help in the upcoming November election. Polsky, who supports a woman's right to an abortion, is currently engaged in his third attempt to unseat the incumbent Republican Stephen Freind, a vocal representative who has worked to outlaw the procedures. Polsky's speech was a sharp contrast to a heated appearance by Freind last February which was marked by hecklers and confrontational protests. Last night, protests were visibly absent from his speech and there was little vocal opposition to his remarks. Although most of his speech emphasized his abortion-rights stance, Polsky said later that he would like to focus on other issues in the campaign. "I want to put abortion on the back burner," Polsky said. "The environment, education, and health care -- those are three issues that we have to work on. Abortion is an emotional issue. Whatever you decide, its your choice, not mine." "I think that the program was very informative for all of us here, whether we are very strongly backing the pro-choice movement, or were unsure of ourselves," Miller said. Students said after the speech that they found Polsky's views on abortion very appealing and a welcome contrast to Freind. "The thing that I liked about Polsky is that he came off as someone who's not a strong liberal," College junior Rachel Solar said.

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