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

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efusal to fight for multiple issues, the group’s single-issue stance and focus on abortion allowed the group to relate across party and religious lines. According to author Christopher Anglim, this enabled MCCL to grow its support by “keep[ing] all doors open [and] both sides happy.” 50 Halva-Neubauer argues that “while Minnesotans were not substantially more opposed to abortion reform than the nation as a whole, the state’s political culture provided fertile ground for the expression of anti-abortion sentiment.” 51 Debates between Robert McCoy and MCCL founder and soon-to-be president Marjory Mecklenburg occupied primetime television slots throughout the pre-Roe years and were clear proof of citizens’ interest and involvement in Minnesota politics. 52 It is also crucial to note that both of these leaders were ordinary citizens and added to the diversity of the movement’s activists. They were not doctors or educators, lawyers or lawmakers, although many actors in the two movements held such professions. McCoy was motivated by his experiences with women he encountered in his abortion counseling agency; Mecklenburg was a homemaker who was among the MCCL founders as a result of encouragement from her neighbors. The mix of professionals with other citizens certainly contributed to the spread and strength of both movements. There was no lawmaker who championed Minnesota abortion reform or led groups like MCCL against it. Instead, ordinary, or rather extraordinary, citizens organized themselves in YMCA centers and peers’ basements to make the abortion debate into what it became in Minnesota by 1973. MCCL was able to mobilize Minnesotans of a variety of professions to present a broad, 50 Ibid., 198. 51 Halva-Neubauer, 31. 52 Marjory Mecklenburg’s husband, Fred, was the first president of MCCL and a fellow founder. Marjory was a later president of MCCL and the first president and founder of American Citizens Concerned for Life. 37
yet united front against abortion law reform on the state and (later) national level. It is this grassroots organization, a result of Minnesota’s historically active citizens and tradition of single-issue and informed politics, which made the Minnesota story, and the MCCL and MCLTP stories, so unique. For MCCL, the story of its purely state-focused efforts ends with the biggest defeat of the movement’s existence, one that “disgusted…disappointed…and surprised” anti-abortion volunteers, but certainly did not halt its most important sympathizers. 53 On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which effectively legalized abortion throughout a woman’s pregnancy in all fifty states. These decisions reversed Hodgson’s conviction and overturned Minnesota’s 1873 abortion law; this one act did what over six years of Minnesota pro-abortion lobbying and organization could not. These decisions, however, did not end MCCL, but instead bound the group more closely with anti-abortion groups in other states, and unified these groups under the American Citizens Concerned for Life (ACCL) and National Right to Life Committee (NRLC). While the NRLC revised its bylaws to allow loose affiliations with state groups years after its founding, ACCL affiliated with state groups as a core part of its mission statement upon incorporation. The creation of NRLC and especially ACCL as umbrella organizations further demonstrates how the abortion issue had become a national one. The stronger state anti-abortion groups like MCCL took the lead in building up weaker right-to-life groups in other states, and also took positions of leadership in the new national organizations. However, while the anti-abortion movement garnered increasing enthusiasm and passion after the 1973 decision, Minnesotans looked at the issue on a national scale as 53 Abernathy Interview Transcript, Boxed 9 April 1993, Box 2, Folder 300, Kristin Luker Papers. 38
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 and 40: issue-based and activist politics f
Page 41: Blake and Fred Mecklenburg and lobb
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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