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

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eligion.” 11 This absence of religion, however, generally holds true only until the 1970s rise of national organizations like the National Right to Life Committee, founded and financed by the Catholic Church. In contrast, nineteenth-century medical authorities realized there were few religious spokesmen for the organized anti-abortion movement; to be sure, the few religious leaders who did speak up in the nineteenth century were deemed “unpopular, and their works b[ore] but little fruit, and that of poor quality” by Dr. J. Miller, an active doctor in the nineteenth-century anti-abortion movement. 12 The same description may be applied to Catholic clergy leadership in Minnesota in the decade preceding Roe, according to MCCL founders. 13 Therefore, the actors and arguments most prevalent in shaping nineteenth century abortion legislation would prove to be the most powerful forces in pre-Roe times as well. Church groups and bishops were seldom thought leaders of the pre-Roe anti-abortion movement in the nineteenth century and the immediate pre-Roe years in Minnesota. Rather, concerned citizens, lawyers, educators, and physicians led the push in both the pro- and anti-abortion camps. While many states formed their earliest anti-abortion groups through local Catholic parishes, largely aided by Catholic bishops and the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), MCCL became the voice of the Minnesota anti-abortion movement through neighborhood and chapter meetings that transcended specific religious denominations. According to historian Neil Young, Catholic leaders began to organize “a network” of anti-abortion parish and diocese groups in certain states that otherwise 11 Mohr, 196. 12 J. Miller, “Criminal Abortion,” Kansas City Medical Record, I, No. 8 (August 1884), 297, quoted in James C. Mohr, Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy, 1800-1900 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), 195. 13 Mary and Robert Joyce interview. 15
would have functioned independently of one another. 14 Historian John McGreevy, too, describes a state-by-state campaign to organize church anti-abortion groups, armed with “an instant network of parishes, parish bulletins, newspapers, copy machines, staplers, and most important, volunteers.” 15 While this was certainly the case in states like California and Illinois, no such Catholic-specific action occurred in Minnesota. Instead of organizing around existing religious institutions, MCCL drew on a tradition of secular, medical anti-abortion rhetoric in neighborhood settings especially vibrant in Minnesota. Sociologist Kristin Luker calls the years following the Physician’s Crusade the “Century of Silence;” until groups like MCCL arose, the abortion debate received little public attention, and no legislative change until the 1960s. 16 In the decades before MCCL, the anti-abortion movement had no notable, forceful voice in Minnesota or on the national level because there simply was no pressing need for an anti-abortion public or political voice. Additionally, although the era of the Great Depression and World Wars saw huge social and political change, abortion was simply not a social or political issue in America. 17 Instead, it was a technical, scientific, and medical issue. Physicians were the established authority on the issue by the turn of the century; for any other group to rally for and attain change would have proved very difficult. Physicians overwhelmed all other groups as candidates for opposition because they simply did not speak the same language; technical language was superior in this era, and only doctors used it. 14 Young states that the NRLC brought 864 Catholic chapters together by 1974. Over 100 of these were in California, and 50 were in Illinois. No figures were mentioned for Minnesota, but Birthright, a Minnesota group, was specified as “remaining separate.” Neil Young, “We Gather Together: Catholics, Mormons, Southern Baptists and the Question of Interfaith Politics, 1972-1984,” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 2008, 146. 15 McGreevy, 273. McGreevy cites specific instances from New York, Colorado, and Arizona, but not from the Midwest. 16 Luker, 41 17 Ibid., 42. 16
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: practice. The law as it stands is t
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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