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

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Mayo Clinic doctors, lobbyists, pastors, speech-writers, and published authors. 43 Together, they started their fight against what MCCL founders deemed the “anti-life drive” with what historian Halva-Neubauer defined as “tenacious, grassroots lobbying coupled with indefatigable electioneering” to become a lasting political power and rival of MCLTP. 44 MCCL immediately and vigorously started to act toward their goals. The group is often given credit for preventing the 1969 pro-abortion Gage and Bell-McMillan bills from passing into law in Minnesota. 45 MCCL members, ranging from doctors and pastors to homemakers and educators, lobbied and testified in committee hearings, and established strong relationships with legislators across party lines. In doing so, the group clearly mirrored MCLTP tactics. Dr. James A. Blake, for example, testified against the Gage Bill on March 31, 1969 in a subcommittee hearing, asserting that “doing an abortion is taking a life and all our training and all our practice is for the preservation and lengthening of life.” 46 He practiced at the most highly respected hospitals in the state: Hennepin County General, University of Minnesota Hospital, and Mayo Clinic. As stated before, medical rhetoric still prevailed a century after the Physician’s Crusade established it. The high profile of medicine in Minnesota further strengthened physician voices in the state. Although Blackmun reached a different conclusion than MCCL doctors at Mayo, the immense influence of the institution is evident. In part, leadership in both MCCL and pro-abortion groups was to some extent professionalized, as was the case among leaders in the nineteenth century debate. The combination of doctors like 43 Mary and Robert Joyce interview. 44 Ibid.; Halva-Neubauer, 35. 45 Mary and Robert Joyce interview. 46 James Blake Testimony, 31 March 1969, Box 1, Folder: Legislation: Minnesota 1967-1969, Katherine Taylor Wood Papers. 35
Blake and Fred Mecklenburg and lobbyists like Hartle and Marjory Mecklenburg was crucial to MCCL in the fight against liberalized abortion legislation; these activists would continue to be crucial forces in the national post-Roe debate. MCCL faced another major challenge in the form of Minnesota v. Hodgson, a 1971 prosecution of Jane Hodgson, who became the first licensed physician convicted of performing an illegal abortion in a hospital. Hodgson, a Mayo-trained obstetrician and a founding member of MCLTP, tested the constitutionality of the Minnesota abortion law by performing an abortion on a woman exposed to rubella (German measles) during her pregnancy. 47 Well aware of the importance of the case (as it was eventually sent to the Supreme Court), MCCL acted directly by filing an amicus curiae brief, adding to the anti-abortion front against Hodgson. 48 Additionally, MCCL members were called as expert witnesses in the trial. Just as MCLTP used the courts to argue its case in the abortion debate, so also did MCCL take decisive action to defend the state’s 1873 law. Although the abortion issue was perhaps becoming a political one as courts and legislatures became involved, it was not yet a partisan one. Both Democrats and Republicans attended MCCL events, proposed and fought pro-liberalization legislation, and responded positively to the group’s opinions and efforts. The issue was not yet widely accepted as part of party platforms; the debate was still too new on the public scene. In addition, because the movement was single-issue, it could apply itself across the political spectrum in these early years. 49 While MCCL’s greatest criticism was its 47 MCLTP Letter to Membership, 1971, Box 1, Folder: Hodgson, Dr. Jane. Legal Case, 1970- 1972, Katherine Taylor Wood Papers. 48 MCCL Newsletter, March 1971, MCCL Archives. 49 Christopher Anglim, Loaves and Fishes: A History of Pro-Life Activism in the Democratic- Farmer Labor Party of Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District (1968-81), (Published by the Author: St. Paul, 1981), 197; see also Donald T. Critchlow. Intended Consequences (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999). 36
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 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: issue-based and activist politics f
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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