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

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increasing inflation, and the Iran hostage crisis, and in addition appealed to the Moral Majority, the New Right, and to moral and social interests like pro-life. Additionally, by the 1980s, the country and the media had made abortion a political issue. One paper said of Mecklenburg, an MCCL founder and champion of pro-life activities, “a veteran of abortion warfare in cold Minnesota where folks frequently warm themselves with fiery liberalism, conservative Marjorie [sic] E. Mecklenburg has found the political climate in Washington no more temperate.” 87 Once in office, Reagan continually gave lip service to the pro-life movement, but would not always follow up with definitive action. In addition, Reagan’s appointment of Sandra Day O’Connor, a prominent pro-choice activist during the 1970s in Arizona, was seen as a “betrayal.” 88 To pro-life leader Carolyn Gerster, who helped Mecklenburg and the early NRLC separatists organize ACCL after the Roe decision, Reagan’s Supreme Court nomination was a further “humiliation.” 89 According to Gerster, Reagan promised a pro-life appointment to the Supreme Court in return for the movement’s support in his 1980 election campaign. After the election and little pro-life action on Reagan’s part, he issued a statement in the August 1981 issue of The National Right to Life News, asserting “I believe that most of the talk about my appointment was stirred up principally by one person in Arizona, I have done a great deal of checking on this and have found this person has something of a state voted for Reagan in 1980 and 1984 in tune with the recent alignment of antiabortion forces and the Republican party), the incumbent vice presidential candidate under Carter was Walter Mondale, a native Minnesotan and US senator from 1964-1976. In 1984, he won on the democratic ticket for president himself. 87 Sue Mullin, “The lady behind the ‘squeal rule,’” The Washington Times, 1B, 28 December, 1982, ACCL Records, Box 35, Folder: M. Mecklenburg Fed Positions, Gerald R. Ford Library. 88 Wallis, op. cit.; also McAteer interview, quoted in Paige, 223. 89 Paige, 224. 65
ecord of being vindictive.” 90 Carolyn Gerster was an Arizona native, and pro-life activists knew it; they saw Reagan’s response as a great insult and “a gratuitous display of insensitivity,” further sustaining the increasing rough relations between the movement and the president. 91 In Congress, pro-life momentum had largely come to a halt by the end of 1982, at least with regard to a possible constitutional amendment overturning Roe v. Wade. Senator Jesse Helms and Senator Orrin Hatch drafted competing constitutional amendments at the turn of the decade, and debates became increasingly futile in 1981 and 1982. The amendments were attached to a debt-ceiling bill and filibustered in the Senate, further frustrating legislators on all sides of the issue. The prolonged debate caused Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York to shout from his seat, “[w]e have before us the greatest constitutional crisis since the Civil War!” 92 On September 15, 1982, Hatch withdrew his amendment, and the Helms amendment was tabled soon after. According to historian Donald Critchlow, this instance ended the movement for a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Roe v. Wade decision. Pro-life activists soon went away from the New Right and from the President himself; Reagan’s inaction compounded with the failures and stalemate in Congress, according to historian Connie Paige, left “right-to-life activists…isolated, confused as to where to go from there.” 93 90 National Right to Life News, July 13 and 27, Aug. 10 and 24 and Sept. 28, 1981, quoted in Paige, 224. 91 Paige, 224. 92 New York Times, 19 August 1982, quoted in Critchlow, 232. 93 Paige, 222. 66
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 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: with us.” 81 Needless to say, by
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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