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

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their goal of a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution, which would protect and define human life at the moment of conception. With the rise of the Moral Majority and New Right came increased pressure and publicity (and therefore, change) for the pro-life movement. Roe and the long struggle that followed it represented a defeat that discouraged some, but mobilized others. Marjory Mecklenburg, the woman who needed convincing to subscribe to the movement in the first place, was one activist who became arguably more motivated than any other. She eventually progressed farther than any other MCCL founder and was appointed to a government position as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs in Ronald Reagan’s administration. Mecklenburg’s trajectory and those of many early anti-abortion actors show that pre- and post-Roe histories do not tell a segmented story, but rather a continuous one. This thesis challenges historiography’s periodization of the abortion movement and the larger rise of modern conservatism, complicating how scholars think about anti-abortion actors, who were not always conservatives themselves. Institutional structures, political arguments, and individual people can all be traced out of Minnesota, which acts as a vital breeding ground and a continual link throughout the abortion story explained here. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL), founded in 1968, was one of the first statewide anti-abortion groups, and became one of the nation’s most popular groups at the time of the Supreme Court decision. MCCL took a forceful stand against abortion before, immediately after, and ever since the historic ruling in January 1973. The unique nature of Minnesota politics, the large membership of MCCL, and the seemingly paradoxical existence of this group in a historically liberal state presents a grassroots story that is hardly discussed and rarely understood. Indeed, the Minnesota pre-Roe story 5
is a unique and important one to tell. Minnesota is the state that nurtured and educated St. Paul Van Buren elementary school classmates (and lifelong companions) Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justice Harry Blackmun, author of the Roe v. Wade decision itself. 6 It is the state that is home to a world-famous medical institution and one of this country’s most prestigious and consulted hospitals, the Mayo Clinic. And Minnesota is a state with a political culture drawn to and supportive of single-issue politics and moral-driven issues, due to its immigrants’ surviving culture and active citizenry. 7 By revising Minnesota’s place in the conservative/liberal paradigm and asserting its prominence in the medical sphere through a careful consideration of oral histories of MCCL founders and archives of pro- and anti-abortion activists, an exceptional case of a successful secular anti-abortion group emerges. Such a group was not at odds with, but instead exemplary of Minnesota’s political culture, and one that produced effects that rippled through the national anti-abortion movement and through multiple presidencies. It still survives today. MCCL rose to become one of the most prominent state anti-abortion organizations around the time of the Roe decision because of its formation at the grassroots level in a unique political climate by appealing to fellow neighbors, physicians, and educators using non-religious (but rather medical, scientific, and philosophical) language, while borrowing tactics from the pro-abortion camp, which started organizing in the early 1960s to alter the 1873 Minnesota anti-abortion statute. Politics, grassroots organization, upbringing, education, careers, moral beliefs, and 6 Linda Greenhouse, Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun’s Supreme Court Journey, (New York: Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2005), 6. 7 Daniel J. Elazar, Virginia Gray, and Wyman Spano, Minnesota Politics and Government, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999), 9. 6
Page 1 and 2: Abortion as a “Medical Problem Br
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents Acknowledgements
Page 5 and 6: Abbreviations ACCL - American Citiz
Page 7 and 8: this first neighborhood grassroots
Page 9: in New York, California, and Colora
Page 13 and 14: major factors led to MCCL’s victo
Page 15 and 16: Well before Blackmun’s 1972 Mayo
Page 17 and 18: Chapter 1: The Pre-History of the C
Page 19 and 20: practice. The law as it stands is t
Page 21 and 22: would have functioned independently
Page 23 and 24: instances also increased awareness
Page 25 and 26: threat of abortion criminalization
Page 27 and 28: the actions of new twentieth-centur
Page 29 and 30: of the MCLTP. 3 In the early 1970s,
Page 31 and 32: from the Great Depression in its se
Page 33 and 34: underestimated his opponents, as MC
Page 35 and 36: who shared a “communitarian ethic
Page 37 and 38: However, the Council did not offer
Page 39 and 40: issue-based and activist politics f
Page 41 and 42: Blake and Fred Mecklenburg and lobb
Page 43 and 44: yet united front against abortion l
Page 45 and 46: anti-abortion movement, but also be
Page 47 and 48: emerging organizations across the c
Page 49 and 50: the 1970s, and an additional thirte
Page 51 and 52: When news of Roe and Doe broke, MCC
Page 53 and 54: their efforts prior to the decision
Page 55 and 56: the part of state groups and create
Page 57 and 58: physical space in Minneapolis and r
Page 59 and 60: 58 of them were enacted. 37 Even fo
Page 61 and 62:
looms as a menace to all mankind an
Page 63 and 64:
War.” 56 President Gerald Ford di
Page 65 and 66:
the 1976 Republican Party Platform,
Page 67 and 68:
should be noted that pro-life activ
Page 69 and 70:
with us.” 81 Needless to say, by
Page 71 and 72:
ecord of being vindictive.” 90 Ca
Page 73 and 74:
decades of involvement. Yet before
Page 75 and 76:
nationwide effort organized by the
Page 77 and 78:
in drastic (at the extreme, irrecon
Page 79 and 80:
and increase political effectivenes
Page 81 and 82:
willing to be window dressing - no
Page 83 and 84:
Warren Schaller, and others to form
Page 85 and 86:
women, which would become the speci
Page 87 and 88:
On multiple levels, ACCL became a p
Page 89 and 90:
multi-issue approach was a tactic a
Page 91 and 92:
asserted, “often a few key people
Page 93 and 94:
Lampe, and others) split to form AC
Page 95 and 96:
nomination. Jefferson’s tactics w
Page 97 and 98:
administration. 82 Lampe took over
Page 99 and 100:
and was also a member of Planned Pa
Page 101 and 102:
As previously explored, Mecklenburg
Page 103 and 104:
million; Schweiker’s stance and a
Page 105 and 106:
Almost immediately after her appoin
Page 107 and 108:
The last straw came when Mecklenbur
Page 109 and 110:
on the national scene cautiously, m
Page 111 and 112:
abortion debate she encountered as
Page 113 and 114:
Conclusion Supreme Court Justice Ha
Page 115 and 116:
legislatures, and celebrated occasi
Page 117 and 118:
ecognized nationwide as “one of t
Page 119 and 120:
Bibliography Archives and Interview
Page 121 and 122:
Gorney, Cynthia. Articles of Faith.
Page 123:
Press, Eyal. Absolute Convictions:
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The Pre-Roe Pro-Life Movement in Minnesota and New York

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