◆ SpookStack

: Prohibition against sale of comic books t¢ children under a certain. age is. workable, it said, as "bootleg" sales will result and make the banned work more desirable, And a law banning publications devoted chiefly to criminal news and ' stories of bioodshed, lust, and crime cannot meet constitutional standardse ™. > tEtee eet . ~ aloe '. .." Volunteer "watchdog committees" are no less ‘objectionable, the ACLU asserted. - "Certainly individual members of the community have the right to decide what they: o} their children should read». But "concerted action designed to decide the reading: fare of the entire community. ooconstitutes en attempt to enforce conformity, a prac: tice alien to the American idea of free choice and our democratic tradition." =". ; Nor is establishment of a comic book publishers! code commendable, according to? the Union statement. "Although a siagle publisher may preserive for himself’ any set of. standards he may desire for the pubdlicaion of material, a different situation*?.)7,? exists where a significant segment of the industry agrees to abide by a codee Collec= tive adherence to a single set cf prixciples in a code nas the effect of Limiting; ’+..~ different points of views, for individual publishers ~ as well as writers = are, fears, -ful of departing from the.accepted noxm lest they. be heid up to: scorn or attack and suffer economic losse!. 7) 6-8 tre 2m LAr 3. ie ree vtethetye LA . : aa z epee ee rece Oe . The best hope lies in the home itself ."~ parental control over the reading habits of their children," the ACLU statement concluded; “As the testimony of child welfare experts attests, an environme:t which embraces. a wide cangs of interests will make comics less of an attraction to childrens, secTo those tho argue that not, every: child's home envixonmen> can mest his total needs and sozething must be done to-safi guard children who, unfersunately, Lve in an unsholesome environment, the answer? lies in the work of schools, churches, and community orgenizations.e The creation, of; the healthy environment is their chailengeo"——— 13 NOTE TO EDITORS:- This story is only a summary of the ACLU statement filed with the oe Senate Subcommittes. Because of the widespread public interes _ inks. the issue of comic booke and delinquency, the full text of the ACIU statement, ooh che is being printed as a pamphlet, will be sent to you next weeks Be y ' MALIN HITS STATS LAUS BANNING CONTRACEPTIVE INFORMATION ° ~ The Connecticut and Massachuse*ts laus which prohibit a doctor from giving c traceptive information to his patienss vioiate the civil liberties guarantees of Federal Constitution, Patrick Murphy Malin, executive director of the ACLU disclo recentlys -— Boe ree tris al OIA Spee we oe Addressing 800 guests at the annual luncheon of the Planned Parenthood Feder tion of America in New York City, the ACLU official said: a Pe a "No one contends that Massachusetts and Connecticut must make Planned Parenthood: services or information available tc their citizens. But there.is a civil libert principle, enbodied in the first and fifth amendments in the Federal Constitutions; that these states should not interfere with the right to ‘disseminate information b} adopting laws barcting the use of contraceptives and the supplying_ of: information: about in the U.S. which still make ‘In Connecticut it _is also a Seer 6 ae The two New England states are the orly ‘states. ; illegal for 2 physician to prescribe contraceptives e 7 .erime to use any, dsvice to prevent conceptions ot Malin pointed out that civil liberties, as such, e . parenthood, but require “equal defensé of the free speech “* and those who crusade against planned parenthoo : <7 5=.- agut;: as the’ experience of the American Civil Liberties he continued, "the pracvical fact is that those who crusade f c do not attempt to suppress the argument of those who crusade against it, | who crusade against Planned Parenthood regularly attempt to suppres thé ‘those who crusade for ite! fun et ~~ ; ae te. Malin said "there is no area of human existence about which freedom of inquiry, and communication is more needed than the area of family life." He described Ameri= cans as "uriquely fortunate" in the heritage of freedoms. affecting family lif in*§ this country, 2. Ls): ees rare Sa Dak a Te & is ’ ‘ wet erot _— "one of the worst lags in the development of civil liberty as it affects thea ‘. American family,".he added, "is the suppression of free. Speech about Planned Parente: hood, and the practice of unwarranted discrimination against, those who bdeliev: pe it, for example, in medical employment" .— ae Se RS Le TEs ae