Listen to Me Page #6

---

of the John Birch Society,

what do you do?

STUDENTS:

Wear a flag and rebel.

This is the way debates,

matters of the heart,

and unfortunately,

general elections are won.

Where's Garson?

Uh, he's with his dad.

Um, we have one

for the computer.

How do you sell abortion

to a Catholic judge?

CHARLIE:
Let me

tell you a story.

Before Roe v. Wade,

if a young lady found herself

in the family way,

she had to resort to the

lowest and seamiest

people in her life

to find a back-alley

abortionist.

My mother had

a back-alley abortion.

She was 19.

She went to a filthy hotel

on the wrong side of town.

The sleazebag doctor

met her there. He said,

"Take off your dress.

Drop your pants."

Then he laughed and said,

"If you hadn't dropped

your pants in the first place,

"this wouldn't have happened."

Then, he said, "I want

my payment in advance."

Naked, my mother

walked in front of him

over to her purse.

Got the $1,000 out of it,

and handed it to him.

Then, he said,

"How would you like

to make $100 back?"

My mother said, "What?"

He said, "Just come over here,

and kneel down, sweetheart,

"and make an old man happy."

My mother was repulsed.

She said,

"Just take care of it."

So, he put her up

on a wooden table,

and he took a long,

cold instrument

and shoved it up

into her uterus,

and began scrapping out

the fetus.

Blood spurted out

all over her.

My mother thought

she was gonna die.

When she arrived home,

after two hours on a bus,

she had lost so much blood

that they had to rush her to

a hospital in an ambulance.

But she was lucky.

She lived.

I was lucky.

She lived long enough

to give birth to me.

But, in the '40's,

the law was perfectly willing

to slap her into

jail for 20 years,

for participating in this.

Except for the relative

that told me,

she never told this story

to another soul.

Um, excuse me,

I don't understand.

How do you sell abortion

to a Catholic judge?

Tell 'em the story

of your mother.

BOY:
My mother

never had an abortion.

Neither did mine.

(STUDENTS APPLAUDING)

SENATOR:
You think I didn't

have dreams of my own?

I was a damn good musician

in those days,

but my father said to me

the same thing

I'm saying to you.

"Michael," he said,

"We have a responsibility

as a family, to this country.

"That's why God gave us

all these blessings."

But I'm not like you

and Grandpa.

SENATOR:

Thank you, sweetheart.

(BOTH LAUGHING)

Look, Gar, you're

a thoroughbred, son.

You're coming out of the gate.

Now, you take this dream

of Grandpa's,

this McKellar dream,

and you bring it home.

You owe that to your family,

to your generation,

to your country.

Did you read any of my stories

that I left at Christmas?

I don't need to.

Your mother read 'em.

She said they were fine.

(CHUCKLES)

What do you want?

You want me to

make a phone call

and get them published?

You wanna have a play

on Broadway next year?

Dad, stop patronizing me.

Well, I'll do

whatever you want,

but you gotta do

what I want, too.

That's called manhood.

Yeah!

(MAN VOCALIZING)

(HORN HONKING)

Far in the sky,

it don't matter

It's all just

a state of mind

Rise up the weight

of the world

And drag it down your side

Write up a list

of your violence

They're gonna toss it

to the ground

Oh, tomorrow

Opening the river's run

Come on,

the night is still young

If we can't do it,

it can't be done

SCHWIMMER:
Charlie,

you know how much money

the McKellar family gives

to the school each year.

Or how much winning

a National Debate Championship

could bring in?

Suppose... Suppose

the play is brilliant.

You're not gonna

let him quit.

Just listen, Schwimmer.

We're not supposed to be

programing these kids

into some mold

that you or I with the family

think that they belong in.

I'm just telling you,

if there is any merit

at all in that play,

I am going to let him quit.

Do it

and even you're tenure

won't protect you.

Now what's that

supposed to mean?

What it means is,

I want that boy debating!

(KNOCK ON DOOR)

-How is it going, Dostoyevsky?

-I just finished it, Charlie.

You gonna love it.

Hmm.

Ah, thank you.

Mmm.

(LAUGHING)

(LAUGHING)

-Kid, behave yourself.

-I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

(GRUNTS)

So what do you think?

Why do I get the impression

you are gonna base

a life-time decision

on what I think of this play.

It's good, isn't it, Charlie?

But if I say I love it,

would you quit debate?

Maybe.

Then how do you expect me

to be honest?

Because you're my friend.

I got to get out of trap

before it's too late, Charlie.

If we win the conference

and go to Washington

and my old man's machine

cracks into action,

it's gonna be too late.

Is that play good or isn't it?

The way you've been acting,

it's like you are afraid

to tell me that it stinks.

Am I kidding myself

with this, Charlie,

or do I have a chance, huh?

Tell me.

You ask too much of me.

Make your own decisions.

(DOOR OPENING)

(DOOR SLAMS)

I think it's only fair

to warn you up-front

that my partner

and I often disagree.

That you watch,

we usually end up

debating each other,

instead of our opponents.

Oh, and it gets

very entertaining.

Just last week, at the

Berkeley tournament,

she tried to gouge my eyes out

with her fingernails.

-(CROWD CHUCKLES)

-See the scratches?

Tucker can be very charming,

I'll give you that.

But if you listen closely,

when it's time for

his rebuttal, you'll see.

He'll give you his

best Okey drawl,

two down home homilies,

pile of BS.

If he gives you so much

as one piece of

documented evidence,

-I'll eat my shoe.

-(CROWD CHUCKLING)

The affirmative argue that

the fetal viability standard,

presented in Roe v. Wade,

is on a collision

course with itself.

There are three reasons

why this is false.

One. Doctor Alan Fleischman,

Director of Neonatology

in New York City's

Montefiore Medical Center,

stated that even at the most

sophisticated hospital,

babies born before the

24th week

have no chance of survival.

I would argue, two.

Time magazine reported on

July 6th 1987, page 83,

that fewer than 1%

of the 1.5 million abortions

performed in the

United States each year

occurred after the first

20 weeks of pregnancy.

And finally, three.

Janet Benshoof,

Director of the

Reproductive Freedom Project

of the American

Civil Liberties Union,

concluded that Roe v. Wade

is not on collision

course with itself.

-Well, wonders never cease.

-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

(CROWD APPLAUDING)

They are all kinds

of abortions.

Any time life and freedom

are cut short,

it's an abortion.

It doesn't matter, if you're

in the first trimester,

or the second trimester,

or if you're 22 years old.

Anytime a human being

denies another human being

the right to life,

liberty,

or the simple pursuit of his

own special dream,

it's an abortion.

And it's an abomination

in the eyes of God!

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

My duty on behalf of the

Cross Examination

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