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

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performed the procedure, doctors were largely motivated by economic factors in forming their anti-abortion stance. 2 Indeed, the 1840s saw the rise of abortion as a business, and with this trend came a greater awareness of competition in the medical sphere. 3 In attacking abortion, doctors eliminated their competition, presented themselves as both professional and moral authorities, and thus increased their influence on nineteenthcentury American society. An added advantage of attacking abortion was the opportunity to make the issue into a “widespread social phenomenon” and into a rallying point, a symbol itself. 4 From the outset, the issue was in part framed by a highly symbolic medical and moral debate. Individual professional doctors wrote and lobbied their legislators for antiabortion laws; in 1847, those willing to join forces to promote the status and interests of physicians formed the American Medical Association (AMA), marking the beginning of what Mohr deems the “Physician’s Crusade” against abortion. 5 The AMA provided the opportunity to integrate medical rhetoric in the abortion debate. Indeed, Dr. Horatio Robinson Storer, an obstetrics specialist, used the framework of AMA to launch his attack on abortion ten years later. Storer originally gained followers and support by writing to individual physicians, most already involved in anti-abortion policies or discussion across the country. One such man was Dr. C.W. LeBoutillier. Reporting on the status of abortion laws and public opinion in the Minnesota Territory, LeBoutillier asserted “the practice of producing abortion is frequently resorted to in our vicinity…and I regret to say that regular physicians have in many instances assisted in this damnable 2 Ibid., 37. 3 Ibid., 47. 4 Ibid., 46; Kristin Luker, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 31. 5 Mohr, 146. 13
practice. The law as it stands is to us worthless, and unless it is amended, the evil will not soon cease.” 6 Even before statehood, Minnesotans were vocal advocates of the antiabortion doctrine. Some of the state’s earliest settlers were colonial descendants, New Englanders committed to moral and issue-oriented politics with a fervent desire for economic success. 7 Due to the physicians’ drive to change their professional and economic status, this trend was consistent throughout the country; forty anti-abortion laws were passed between 1860 and 1880. 8 Even before the MCCL years, Minnesotans were pioneers in the abortion issue, as the state’s amateur citizens, not legislators, were catalysts in enacting change on specific moral issues. The state passed its anti-abortion law in 1873 with an overwhelming vote of 37-0 in the Senate and 55-1 in the House. 9 The Minnesota law prohibited abortion except to save the mother’s life, and was quite similar to the Texas statute declared unconstitutional by the Roe decision exactly one century later. 10 The 1873 Minnesota statute is a prime example of how abortion opinions and trends changed drastically in the late nineteenth century due to this overwhelming pressure from the medical community and the resulting sway in public opinion. Religion, however, was a notably minor force in shaping our country’s earliest abortion legislation; Mohr asserts the “origins and evolution of anti-abortion attitudes in the United States owed relatively little to the influence or the activities of organized 6 C.W. LeBoutillier to A.R. Storer, Letter, 28 March 1857, Storer Papers, quoted in James C. Mohr, Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy, 1800-1900 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), 149-151. 7 Elazar, Gray, and Spano, 9. 8 Faye D. Ginsburg, Contested Lives (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 25. 9 Mohr, 223. 10 617.18 Minn. St. § IX (1873). 14
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: Chapter 1: The Pre-History of the C
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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