Abstract

THE BEAT

The article presents information related to several issues. When the Minnesota State Senate voted to limit access to abortion, reproductive rights supporters had their work cut out for them. The law mandated a twenty-four-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions, required clinics to tell women in graphic detail about abortion procedures and provide information about alternatives, and included up to $10,000 fines for doctors who disobeyed rocker Patti Smith. The poet and songwriter Patti Smith, who released her first album twenty-five years ago, displays both aspects of her persona on a fine new CD, "Gung Ho." The high priestess of punk in the seventies, Smith has been creating music over the past decade that pushes the notion expressed in the title of one of her best songs: "People Have the Power." It's a theme she'll be taking on the road this spring as she launches her most ambitious tour in years.