The Pre-Roe Pro-Life Movement in Minnesota and New York

Mecklenburg’s promotion allowed her to instigate her own actions on the government
level, rather than appeal to others to push necessary legislation. This proved a huge
immediate victory for the pro-life movement; it had now progressed farther than it had in
the two decades before.
When Reagan took office, the debates surrounding abortion and family planning
were as political and controversial as ever. Right-wing pro-life activists, especially the
Catholic Church and other religious interests, regarded both issues as “expressions of the
same anti-life, anti-family, anti-God mentality” they saw seeping into the American
culture of the 1980s. 99
Title X, passed by Congress in 1970 to provide birth control to
poor women, was deemed ineffective by the left and anti-life by the right and therefore
faced especially intense scrutiny under Reagan. Painting the issue as one that could
decrease government spending and increase the program’s efficiency and organization,
Reagan’s administration decided power over these programs should be given to
individual states. Yet by the summer of 1981, it was clear Congress would not support
this proposal. 100
Instead, the Senate passed the Adolescent Family Life Act, which would
support and develop programs to promote chastity among minors and provide social
services and education to expecting adolescents. 101
At the time, the Department of
Health and Human Services (DHHS) counted many pro-life actors among its ranks.
Richard Schweiker served as Health Secretary and had proposed and sponsored a Human
Life Amendment when he served on the U.S. Senate. After his appointment in 1981,
Schweiker soon cut the family planning program budget from $162 million to $100
99 New York Times, 21 January 1980, A18, Quoted in McKeegan, 64.
100 McKeegan, 66.
101 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Population Affairs, “Adolescent
Family Life,” updated 2011, accessed 1 March 2012, .
97