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

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quits.” 29 Rev. Schaller, an Episcopalian minister, was in fact fired from his post in July of 1974 and publicly introduced ACCL when he appeared at an August abortion subcommittee hearing as the president and representative of a new national pro-life group. 30 Mecklenburg was defeated in her run for NRLC president in May of 1974, perhaps a last push to obtain greater leadership to change the direction of the organization. 31 She soon cut all NRLC ties when she resigned her chairmanship and her position as Minnesota’s NRLC board representative on August 21, 1974. 32 The same day, Fink and Mecklenburg assumed co-directorships of the newly-formed American Citizens Concerned for Life. Free from the confines of religious affiliation and defined religious leadership, and organized based on the proposals Mecklenburg and Lampe had been drafting for years, ACCL believed it was the most well-organized and well-prepared group to carry on the national pro-life struggle. However, “delighted with the outcome” of the split and well-funded and ever-powerful, the National Right to Life Committee continued to press the pro-life cause through Catholic avenues using Catholic rhetoric, which further portrayed the abortion issue and pro-life stance as religious ones. 33 This was a stigma and association ACCL pushed back against throughout its time as a prominent pro-life force on the national stage. After all, these frustrations comprised the primary motivation for activists like Marjory Mecklenburg, Judy Fink, Carolyn Gerster, 29 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. 30 Susan Fogg, “Abortion opponents part ways,” Newark Star Ledger, 29 September 1974, ACCL Records, Box 7, Folder: NRLC (5), Gerald R. Ford Library. 31 Ibid. 32 Correspondence (telegram) from Ken Vanderhoef, president of NRLC, to Kathy Sackett, of Minneapolis, MN, ACCL Records, Box 7, Folder: NRLC – 1974 (5), Gerald R. Ford Library. 33 Ray White, NRLC director, quoted in 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. 77
Warren Schaller, and others to form the a non-religious, broad-based, and multi-issue American Citizens Concerned for Life. The group’s purpose was “deliberate…clear…calm, it made no mention of God.” 34 Headquartered in Washington D.C. with administrative offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the group was informed by its founders’ MCCL past. Initially (and briefly), former MCCLer and Reverend Warren Schaller served as the group’s first president and executive director, until Fink and Mecklenburg took over as directors soon after. In addition to Schaller, three other Minnesotans founded the new organization and served on its steering committee: Marjory Mecklenburg, Rev. William Hunt (MCCL founder and longtime executive committee member), and Joseph Lampe. 35 Mecklenburg stated this clearly: “MCCL leaders bear a particular responsibility to help pro-life people in other states to develop more effective organizations.” 36 In this way, leaders of this new national group recognized “’[r]eligious motivations are [firstly] too easy for opponents to dismiss as ‘private’ matters that should not be written into law,” and secondly, could polarize potential supporters. 37 The group explicitly warned against opponents’ plots to affiliate the pro-life issue and organizations that supported the cause as a Catholic issue and Catholic movement, clearly informed by ACCL founders’ vivid recent experiences. 38 ACCL mainly assumed a “consultant” role to other activists and organizations. 39 The group’s actors largely shied away from direct political action, and instead focused its 34 Cynthia Gorney, Articles of Faith (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998), 178. 35 Minnesotans Prominent in New National Pro-Life Organization,” MCCL Newsletter, September 1974, page 1, MCCL Archives, Minneapolis, MN. 36 Ibid., page 13. 37 Darla St. Martin, Mobilizing Pro-Life Forces, pamphlet, 1 January 1974, p 4, ACCL Records, Box 18, Folder: ACCL Admin File: OD Mobilizing Pro-Life Forces, Gerald R. Ford Library 38 Ibid. 39 Gerald R. Ford Library. “American Citizens Concerned for Life, Inc.: Records, (1968) 1974- 1982 (1986).” . 78
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 80: and increase political effectivenes
Page 81: willing to be window dressing - no
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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