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

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point in the rhetoric and arguments in the abortion debate; while nineteenth century abortion debates were led by doctors and therefore dominated by medical language, diverse activists of the twentieth century began to focus on the moral aspects of the abortion issue. Multiple rhetorical forces were at play in many of MCLTP’s arguments; MCCL, too, would tap into diverse language to argue its side of the abortion debate. Despite its best efforts to innovate in its vocabulary, arguments, and actions, the pro-abortion camp soon found its principal task of liberalizing abortion law quite difficult, for Minnesota never independently changed its abortion law. Legislators proposed several bills from 1969-1972, which were all immediately referred to subcommittees. Both MCLTP and MCCL testified in front of legislators in these subcommittee hearings. However, due to a variety of factors, none of these bills passed. First, it took time to educate and mobilize public support in the early years of MCLTP, after which the group faced formidable opposition from MCCL. Made clear by the inability of the group to pass a new abortion bill into law, MCLTP never had the upper hand against MCCL in the pre-Roe abortion debate. In addition, MCLTP could not find and retain supporters for the bills very easily. In fact, Senator Kelton Gage retracted his support for the cause in the 1971 legislative session, after authoring the liberalized Gage abortion bill in 1969. 15 Ever the optimist, Robert McCoy asserted in a 1972 press release that although “the small but vocal minority…represented in Minnesota by such organizations as SOUL, AIM, MCCL, and Birthright…are often very vocal, they actually only speak for a minority of our population who extol the fetus.” 16 McCoy 15 Tom Matthews, “Supporters of New Abortion Bill Lose Sponsor in State Senate,” Minneapolis Tribune, 1971, Box 3, Folder: Newspaper Clippings 1971, Katherine Taylor Wood Papers. 16 Press Release, 24 June 1972, Box 1, Folder: Abortion Counseling Center of Minnesota, 1970- 1971, Katherine Taylor Wood Papers. 27
underestimated his opponents, as MCCL and its partner organizations put up an organized, grassroots, and united front against the pro-abortion groups in the pre-Roe years. MCLTP’s subcommittee testimonies and membership recruiting were unable to convince legislators to pass a liberalized abortion law. Instead, the group’s earliest successes and failures created an example MCCL would follow in its own anti-abortion efforts. One may ask if MCLTP did the same; did the pro-abortion camp mimic the antiabortion camp to the same extent? After all, the Minnesota legislature never overturned its 1873 abortion law; despite MCLTP’s two-year head start on MCCL, the pro-abortion group did not achieve its goals. Mutual mimicry makes sense, given each camp’s close observation of the other. However, due perhaps to the chronological differences of the two groups (as one started before the other), very little evidence of pro-abortion mimicry of anti-abortion tactics exists in the archives or newspaper articles of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Because MCLTP began years before MCCL, it established the tactics and rhetoric of the debate early on. In order to then enter that debate, MCCL reacted to proabortion strategies and adopted some of their tactics. After these early years, as MCLTP shifted its tactics, MCCL usually reacted in the same way. Evidence shows very little inversion of this pattern occurred. A stalemate resulted from MCCL’s successful attentiveness to MCLTP’s actions. MCCL mirrored them, moved with them, and kept the debate at an equal count, despite the fact that other states reformed their own antiabortion laws. 28
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: from the Great Depression in its se
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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