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

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downfall of the amendment. Diamond encouraged the NRLC and Catholic bishops to learn from their Protestant comrades. Protestants, Diamond argued, “have a more cerebral sense than do rigorists of the civil order within which public moral issues must come to rest.” 22 Diamond correctly observed that Protestants were not supporting an amendment or the pro-life cause to push their own faith; rather, these actors were motivated by moral and medical reasons. Catholics, on the other hand, were “defending what they believe[d] to be their faith’s basic propositions, and they…threaten[ed] to jump ship from the NRLC if laxism of any degree is manifested in the amendment.” 23 “That’s no way to get a constitutional amendment,” said Carolyn Gerster, a brief president of the NRLC; “[t]hey were not facing reality.” 24 Instead, Diamond realized, the movement needed to “embrace a workable amendment that falls short of natural-law moral theology,” in order to save some unborn and achieve some goals, rather than save none, and achieve none. 25 In addition to its inflexibility on legislative matters, the NRLC found other ways to further isolate its non-Catholic members. Protestants felt ignored and at odds with the Catholic clergy that controlled the organization, and Catholic leadership was not sincerely attempting to change their position. In 1973, Mecklenburg privately wrote to a pro-life ally and reported that “one of Fr. McHugh’s confidants” asked a Protestant on the NRLC executive committee that if the Catholic Church gave the NRLC $20 million and could guarantee the passage of a Human Life Amendment, “would the Protestants be 22 Ibid., 53. 23 Ibid. 24 Carolyn Gerster, quoted in Paige, 181-182. Paige claims, “[w]hat changed their minds was the New Right.” 25 Diamond, 54. 75
willing to be window dressing – no rocking the boat?” 26 This only infuriated and exacerbated the frustrations of leaders like Mecklenburg, Lampe, and Fink, and increased the divide within the NRLC. Given the high stakes, the success of the movement and its principal goal of a constitutional amendment lay in a flexible, broad and open strategy, rather than a strictly Catholic one. True to all the highlighted successes of MCCL, a nonreligious and more universal approach was the most effective way of reaching pro-life goals. Identifying this sentiment prior to Roe v. Wade and growing tired of the internal and external struggles that pervaded the NRLC that resulted in “little creative effort and forward progress,” Marjory Mecklenburg and Joseph Lampe started to draft and move toward forming a new national organization, free from overbearing ties to religion and broader in its goals and aims. 27 American Citizens Concerned For Life (ACCL) was announced on August 21, 1974, but was incorporated in the spring of 1973 (before the NRLC); Mecklenburg and Lampe hesitated to leave the NRLC at first, still hopeful the organization would become more open. 28 However, Mecklenburg, Lampe, former NRLC Corporate Secretary Judith Fink, and former NRLC assistant executive director Rev. Warren Schaller lost hope and soon, according to the Catholic Star Herald, “called it 26 Letter from Marjory Mecklenburg to Martin Ryan Haley, 3 September 1973, ACCL Records, Box 4, Folder: NRLC 1973 (5), Gerald R. Ford Library. 27 Correspondence from Marjory Mecklenburg to Martin Ryan Haley, 3 September 1973, ACCL Records, Box 4, Folder: NRLC 1973 (5), Gerald R. Ford Library. 28 “Minnesotans Prominent in New National Pro-Life Organization,” MCCL Newsletter, September 1974, page 1, MCCL Archives, Minneapolis, MN and Carlton Sherwood, “Conflicts lead to Forming Of New Right-to-Life Unit,” Catholic Star Herald, Vol. 24 No. 18, 30 August 1974, page 1, ACCL Records, Box 7, Folder: NRLC – 1974 (5), ACCL Records, Gerald R. Ford Library. Note: the Sherwood article pins the ACCL incorporation date as “18 months ago,” meaning February 1973, in one part of the article, but claims it was incorporated in May 1973, on the same day as NRLC, later on. The author has chosen to generalize the incorporation as occurring in spring of 1973. 76
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 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 increase political effectivenes
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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