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

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herein and do such other things as maybe necessary or proper to carry out any of the foregoing aims of the corporation.” 56 MCCL and groups across the country alike later adopted educational and scientific projects and language to further their cause through conventions, seminars, weekly meetings, guest speaker events, mail campaigns, and more. Further, MCCL’s plan for appeals to and alignment with Minnesota’s medical community can be painted as efforts to not only further their anti-abortion cause for moral reasons, but also to further the cause as a movement to “foster high standards of medical care” throughout the state. 57 Further proof of MCCL’s efforts to develop the anti-abortion movement nationwide is evident in many articles written to “aid and assist …institutions…engaged in furthering…the aims” of the movement, and also in the similarities of other groups’ tactics and arguments to those of MCCL. 58 As early as 1972, MCCL’s most prominent leaders, including Mecklenburg, drafted a document entitled, “State Pro Life Organization: A Possible Model Presented in Outline Format” to be distributed nationwide. 59 The document outlined the “Basic organization…Education functions…Political functions…Fund raising…[and] Chapters” needed for any successful anti-abortion organization and campaign. 60 These efforts soon came to fruition, as MCCL leader Joseph Lampe, who worked with Mecklenburg throughout her entire activist career, exchanged literature on anti-abortion activism with 56 “Articles of Incorporation of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, Inc.,” 20 June 1968, ACCL Records, Box 12, Folder: MCCL Constitution and Bylaws, Gerald R. Ford Library. 57 Ibid. 58 Ibid. 59 Dr. Paul Andreini, Marjory Mecklenburg, Joseph Lampe, Edythe Thompson, “State Pro Life Organization: A Possible Model Presented in Outline Format,” ACCL Records, Box 4, Folder: Natural Right to Life Convention June 16-18, 1972, Gerald R. Ford Library. 60 Ibid. 41
emerging organizations across the country. 61 In particular, the drive to found a Right to Life organization in Kentucky came about in mid-1973, when Robert Greene, serving on the executive committee of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) at the time, described the efforts being made to incorporate the new statewide organization. 62 Conflict arose, however, as Greene worried about how the new Kentucky group would affiliate with a national organization. For, after Roe, multiple nationwide groups were created out of tension and differing ambitions with previously established groups. Statewide groups and nationwide groups had to adjust and navigate a changing pro-life organizational structure. Mecklenburg’s new American Citizens Concerned for Life would become prominent for brief moments in anti-abortion history. The NRLC, however, was the longest-standing contemporary anti-abortion group, and had strengths and allies of its own. The two groups would often disagree in fundamental ways; this would soon split the allegiances of critical MCCL leaders, the organization itself, and state organizations around the country in the post-Roe years. Yet, these divisions had roots in the years before the 1973 decision; even then, state and national activists clashed over the best direction and tactics for the cause as a whole to pursue. 61 Literature from Des Moines Right to Life (ACCL Records, Box 4, Folder: Miscellaneous Reference Materials (5), Gerald R. Ford Library), Kentucky Right to Life (Box 11, Folder: MCCL – 1973, Robert F. Greene to Mr. Warren Schaller, Letter 24 April 1973), and Michigan Citizens for Life (Box 16, Folder: NRLC 1975 (4)) were found in Joseph Lampe’s papers (ACCL Records). Lampe served as one of the founding members for both MCCL and American Citizens Concerned for Life (ACCL), and helped draft the MCCL Plan for national organization. 62 Robert Greene would later write a nationally distributed monthly report for the NRLC on abortion legislation and debate in Congress, entitled The Greene Sheet. He would also become a founding member of ACCL with Marjory Mecklenburg. The pair’s correspondence with regard to the Kentucky Right-to-Life Committee is their first correspondence the author found in any archive explored. 42
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 and 42: Blake and Fred Mecklenburg and lobb
Page 43 and 44: yet united front against abortion l
Page 45: anti-abortion movement, but also be
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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