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

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inclusion, and success through broad based tactics and medical and non-religious rhetoric in ACCL, and eventually led to the appointment of a pro-life activist turned government insider. Mecklenburg had little or no administrative and government experience when she was appointed to her DHHS post. She continued her aggressive pro-life tactics and skills that had developed over the previous decades; Mecklenburg perhaps did not know any other way to run an organization. She never pressed a religious doctrine or agenda, as she had asserted back in 1974, “I don’t feel it’s a religious issue.” 128 By pushing back on the Catholic Church and religious reasons for the abortion cause, she did not alienate herself or become too religiously outspoken to be considered for a government post. Yet perhaps largely due to her inexperience in government, she could not effectively communicate and also stay within the bounds of her position in the 1980s. Mecklenburg was accustomed to setting a boundless agenda; this is certainly a strength of grassroots organizations. However, she found that government could not work as private grassroots organizations did. The tactics MCCL drafted, spread to other states, and continued in ACCL were successful on the state and national level in the public abortion debate, but not in government. As much as the abortion debate dominated political conversation, there was very little to show for it by the mid-80s; the increasing case of abortion as campaign issue went hand in hand with an increasing inability to achieve legislative victories. Mecklenburg shows one small example of this general trend. The tactics Mecklenburg employed in her post were simply ill-suited and ineffective in addressing the new 128 David Kuhn, “Antiabortion lobby seeks new image,” Minneapolis Tribune, 5B, 22 February 1974, ACCL Records, Box 35, Folder: ACCL Admin File: M. Mecklenburg 1973-76 (1), Gerald R. Ford Library. Additionally, no compelling evidence exists that Mecklenburg’s denial of abortion as a religious issue ever changed significantly. 105
abortion debate she encountered as a government insider. McKeegan characterizes this debate as a “clash between pro-choice health professionals and anti-abortion enthusiasts whose passionate convictions undermined their ability to make orderly change.” 129 Unable to address and participate in this new kind of debate, Mecklenburg was forced to step down, and the pro-life movement lost valuable government insiders, crucial assets and advocates of the cause as the debate faced the latter part of the decade. Yet despite this unhappy end to Mecklenburg’s pro-life progression, her résumé remained a “Who’s Who of anti-abortion groups.” 130 She was the common thread of everything this thesis has addressed; even in 1982, The Washington Times proclaimed, “Marjory Mecklenburg, the woman, is virtually inseparable from Marjory Mecklenburg’s cause.” 131 She was an example of the pro-life drive that steered away from inflexible national causes and religious motives and doctrines, and she also sketched the limits of that strategy. The limitations of her achievement clearly showed how far MCCL and ACCL strategies could progress to be successful. Mecklenburg and the movement she represented showed a pro-life story concerned with moral and medical language, employed through grassroots and national coordinated action, toward a broad and flexible goal of protecting all human life. Yet in the end, her pro-life political strategy lost out. Today’s pro-life movement is religious in its public presentation and largely propelled through religious or affiliated institutions and organizations. While the MCCL and ACCL non-religious approach proved successful prior to the 1980s, the rise of religious conservatism in public debate and the increasing affiliation of the pro-life stance with that religious conservatism left 129 McKeegan, 75. 130 Sue Mullin, “The lady behind the ‘squeal rule,’” The Washington Times, 1B, 28 December 1982, ACCL Records, Box 35, Folder: M. Mecklenburg Fed Positions, Gerald R. Ford Library. 131 Ibid. 106
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 and 10:
in New York, California, and Colora
Page 11 and 12:
is a unique and important one to te
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: on the national scene cautiously, m
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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