Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 14, 1995 TAG: 9507140071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NEW ORLEANS - The Elks, one of the nation's largest fraternal organizations, took the first step Thursday to begin admitting women.
At its national convention in New Orleans, more than two-thirds of about 5,000 people on the Elks' legislative body voted in favor of admitting women beginning in late September or early October. The proposal now goes to the 127-year-old fraternity's 2,250 lodges.
Edward J. Mahan, grand exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, said he expected the lodges to allow women, but he doesn't think a great many will apply ``because then the auxiliary loses its existence.''
The Elks has 1.3 million members nationwide and prides itself on patriotism and community service.
If the fraternity's members vote to accept women, Mahan said, the next step would be to change the statutes so they are gender-neutral.
- Associated Press
Abortion doctor's murder trial opens
NEW YORK - An abortion doctor ``lacerated'' a patient in her fifth month of pregnancy and left her to bleed to death, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday as the man went on trial.
``This is a murder case,'' prosecutor Barry Schwartz told the jury in his opening statement.
Dr. David Benjamin, 58, should have referred Guadalupe Negron to a hospital when she asked for an abortion, prosecutors say. Instead, he performed the procedure and Negron, allegedly left unattended, bled to death from punctures to her uterus and cervix.
In a case unprecedented in state history and rare anywhere in the United States, Benjamin has been charged with murder, accused of doing nothing to help the woman after she was wheeled from the operating room drenched in blood.
- Associated Press
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB