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

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Physicians’ elevated status from anti-abortion legislation was magnified as medicine advanced and developed new treatments for the previous threats to maternal health. 18 The decision to perform an abortion was often entirely left to the discretion of individual physicians, thus creating a large variation in the circumstances under which abortions were performed. To remedy the disparities, hospitals established abortion committees to assemble uniform guidelines for the abortion decisions in the 1950s. 19 Abortions became more difficult to obtain, especially as some hospitals reverted to systems deemed especially controversial and discriminatory against poor, less-informed, and less-connected women seeking abortions. 20 In addition, significant medical advancements made during WWII and exponentially in the post-war years increasingly convinced many that state abortion laws were becoming “archaic.” 21 Not only did doctors identify “new” fetal deformities (such as Down’s Syndrome in 1959), but they also found new ways of detecting these deformities early in the pregnancy. These medical advancements convinced physicians that nineteenth century abortion laws were inconsistent with twentieth century social thought and medical and genetic technology. All this led to the post-war mobilization of physicians, educators, and medical organizations to the pro-abortion cause, striving for equal treatment and protection for all under the law. Two highly publicized causes of fetal deformity, the 1962 thalidomide drug scandal and the 1965 rubella epidemic, shifted this awareness from the medical to the public sphere, thereby convincing the broader citizenry the law needed revision. These 18 Ibid., 54-55. 19 Ibid., 55. 20 Ibid., 57. 21 “Abortion Law Isn’t Moral – Dr. Hodgson,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 18 November 1970, 1A, Box 1, Folder: Hodgson, Dr. Jane Legal Case 1970-1973, Katherine Taylor Wood Papers. 17
instances also increased awareness of startling abortion realities - 1 million women had illegal abortions, 350,000 women were hospitalized because of botched abortions, and illegal abortion was the leading cause of death for American women in 1968 - and brought the abortion debate from hospital waiting rooms to dining room tables. 22 In 1962, Sherri Finkbine, host of a popular children’s television show in Phoenix, took thalidomide (a European sleeping pill), which led to deformities in the unborn. She eventually obtained an abortion in Sweden, after facing hospital rejections and court cases on the matter in Arizona. 23 Her conflict was the cover story of Life magazine on August 10, 1962 and therefore became the topic of heated discussion among citizens across the country and the world. 24 Just three years later, German measles (rubella) swept the nation; all expecting mothers exposed to the disease had a large risk of fetal deformity. The epidemic of the disease soon grew into an epidemic of paranoia, increased abortions, and therefore increased involvement and tension in a suddenly public abortion debate. As a response to the developing public awareness on abortion problems, the American Law Institute (ALI), an organization of lawyers, professors, and judges, drafted its 1959 Model Penal Code on abortion, stating the procedure was permissible if performed by a licensed physician. Three years later, the American Medical Association (AMA) endorsed the ALI’s Model Penal Code and proposed policy statements based on the Code itself; this was quite the departure from the campaign the AMA championed a 22 “What Started the Abortion Battle?,” 1978, Box 2, Folder: Abortion Rights Council of Minnesota 1973-1981, Katherine Taylor Wood Papers; Linda Greenhouse and Reva B. Siegel, Before Roe v. Wade: Voices That Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court’s Ruling (New York: Kaplan Publishing, 2010), 11. 23 Ibid.,11. 24 Ibid. 18
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: would have functioned independently
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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