The Pre-Roe Pro-Life Movement in Minnesota and New York
The Pre-Roe Pro-Life Movement in Minnesota and New York
The Pre-Roe Pro-Life Movement in Minnesota and New York
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Mayo Cl<strong>in</strong>ic doctors, lobbyists, pastors, speech-writers, <strong>and</strong> published authors. 43<br />
Together, they started their fight aga<strong>in</strong>st what MCCL founders deemed the “anti-life<br />
drive” with what historian Halva-Neubauer def<strong>in</strong>ed as “tenacious, grassroots lobby<strong>in</strong>g<br />
coupled with <strong>in</strong>defatigable electioneer<strong>in</strong>g” to become a last<strong>in</strong>g political power <strong>and</strong> rival<br />
of MCLTP. 44<br />
MCCL immediately <strong>and</strong> vigorously started to act toward their goals. <strong>The</strong> group is<br />
often given credit for prevent<strong>in</strong>g the 1969 pro-abortion Gage <strong>and</strong> Bell-McMillan bills<br />
from pass<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to law <strong>in</strong> M<strong>in</strong>nesota. 45<br />
MCCL members, rang<strong>in</strong>g from doctors <strong>and</strong><br />
pastors to homemakers <strong>and</strong> educators, lobbied <strong>and</strong> testified <strong>in</strong> committee hear<strong>in</strong>gs, <strong>and</strong><br />
established strong relationships with legislators across party l<strong>in</strong>es. In do<strong>in</strong>g so, the group<br />
clearly mirrored MCLTP tactics. Dr. James A. Blake, for example, testified aga<strong>in</strong>st the<br />
Gage Bill on March 31, 1969 <strong>in</strong> a subcommittee hear<strong>in</strong>g, assert<strong>in</strong>g that “do<strong>in</strong>g an<br />
abortion is tak<strong>in</strong>g a life <strong>and</strong> all our tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> all our practice is for the preservation <strong>and</strong><br />
lengthen<strong>in</strong>g of life.” 46<br />
He practiced at the most highly respected hospitals <strong>in</strong> the state:<br />
Hennep<strong>in</strong> County General, University of M<strong>in</strong>nesota Hospital, <strong>and</strong> Mayo Cl<strong>in</strong>ic. As<br />
stated before, medical rhetoric still prevailed a century after the Physician’s Crusade<br />
established it. <strong>The</strong> high profile of medic<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> M<strong>in</strong>nesota further strengthened physician<br />
voices <strong>in</strong> the state. Although Blackmun reached a different conclusion than MCCL<br />
doctors at Mayo, the immense <strong>in</strong>fluence of the <strong>in</strong>stitution is evident. In part, leadership<br />
<strong>in</strong> both MCCL <strong>and</strong> pro-abortion groups was to some extent professionalized, as was the<br />
case among leaders <strong>in</strong> the n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century debate. <strong>The</strong> comb<strong>in</strong>ation of doctors like<br />
43 Mary <strong>and</strong> Robert Joyce <strong>in</strong>terview.<br />
44 Ibid.; Halva-Neubauer, 35.<br />
45 Mary <strong>and</strong> Robert Joyce <strong>in</strong>terview.<br />
46 James Blake Testimony, 31 March 1969, Box 1, Folder: Legislation: M<strong>in</strong>nesota 1967-1969,<br />
Kather<strong>in</strong>e Taylor Wood Papers.<br />
35