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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Perhaps greater than its contribution in education and example, MCCL gave much of its founding leadership to national efforts and organizations in 1973. Even days after the decision, the local New Prague Times described how MCCL volunteers knew the “action by the court [wa]s not the end of abortion as a public issue,” but rather was the beginning of a national movement. 35 MCCL leaders “continue[d] to pursue [their] legal, educational and legislative effort to defend the right to life of all persons,” even if that effort was not principally with MCCL. 36 As stated previously, the abortion debate became a national one in 1973, and MCCL leaders followed that debate onward and upward from Minnesota to Washington D.C. The Changing Debate from State to Nation: The Politicization of the Abortion Issue and the New Importance of Nationwide Groups While the statewide abortion battle continued and state pro-life actors moved to limit the reaches of the Roe v. Wade decision as much as possible, the national debate became suddenly and increasingly vital to pro-life victory. National organizations, either long-standing or newly-created, mobilized their forces to eventually enact a Human Life Amendment, which would define the start of life at conception, and therefore give the right to life to the unborn and reverse the Roe decision. According to historian Donald T. Critchlow, 449 abortion-related bills were introduced in state legislatures after Roe, and 35 “MCCL dismayed at court decision,” New Prague Times, 29 January 1973, Box 3, Folder: Newspaper Clippings 1973, Katherine Taylor Wood Papers. Do Ibid. 53
58 of them were enacted. 37 Even four years after the decision, in 1977, Planned Parenthood reported that 80% of public hospitals and 70% of private hospitals still refused to administer abortions. 38 While clearly this debate continued and even reeled on the state level, the abortion issue became increasingly politicized on the national level. Historian Mark Herring reports that in 1974, eighteen amendments, either proposing to overturn Roe or in some way “protect the unborn,” had entered Congressional hearings. 39 In the twenty years that followed the decision, the Supreme Court ruled on twenty major abortion issue decisions, “plac[ing] the Supreme Court in the role of a regulator, minutely determining which state laws were acceptable or unacceptable,” according to Critchlow. 40 Additionally, the historian argues these Supreme Court “decisions set the context for federal policy making” from Ford to Clinton. 41 As the debate shifted from state to national importance, the issue became increasingly politicized and unhinged many of the religious and partisan norms of the previous decades. For example, according to historian John McGreevy, the politicization of abortion “weaken[ed] the liberal-Catholic alliance welded together by Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal.” 42 As pro-life became an increasingly important stance for Catholics and a more Republican issue for candidates while Democrats “moved toward a liberalism predicated on individual autonomy” (advocating the pro-choice view), the prevalence of the Democratic Catholic began to fade. 43 Concerned with defending human life against all harmful action, Catholics found this moral view irreconcilable with 37 Donald. T. Critchlow, Intended Consequences (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 200. 38 Ibid. 39 Mark Y. Herring, The Pro-Life/Choice Debate, (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003), 109 40 Ibid, 201. 41 Ibid. 42 McGreevy, 259. For more on the abortion issue’s influence on the Catholic shift from the Democratic to Republican Party, consult pages 265-281. 43 Ibid, 260. 54
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 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: physical space in Minneapolis and r
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:
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?