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

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completely severed from the NRLC, although ACCL did display a booth at the 1975 National Right to Life Convention, ironically themed, “Strength Through Unity.” 52 Additionally, while many pro-life organizations began to be politicized in the late 1970s and early 1980s, ACCL was always motivated to remain bi-partisan. 53 Darla St. Martin, a former MCCLer who also worked with ACCL, told the Wall Street Journal of the group’s diversity in its earliest years. The article described how “[a]ctivists…are attracting a wider following, by no means all of which is Catholic. [They] include Republicans and Democrats, veterans of the antiwar and civil-rights movements and a host of otherwise unaffiliated middle-class Americans. As a consequence of this, national politicians as well as state legislators are beginning to take them seriously.” 54 While the NRLC began to affiliate itself with the New Right and the Republican Party, ACCL kept track of legislators’ voting records, but never threw its full weight behind a particular party. ACCL’s ability to maintain a non-religious, universal, and Paul Ramsey, Ph.D. (Professor of Religion, Princeton University), Victor G. Rosenblum (Professor of Law, Northwestern University), Nick Thimmesch (Journalist, Washington, D.C.), and George H. Williams (Professor of Divinity, Harvard University, and Founder and Director of Americans United for Life), among many others. State Pro-Life Organization, mailing, ACCL Records, Box 18, Folder: ACCL Admin File: OD State Organizational Booklet, Gerald R. Ford Library; and Correspondence, From Marjory Mecklenburg to Members of 1976 Democratic Platform Committee, 27 May 1976, ACCL Records, Box 44, Folder: ACCL Political File: Political Letter to Platform May 17, 1976, Gerald R. Ford Library; and Rabbi David Novak, Ph.D. quoted in ACCL Congressional Action Project literature, ACCL Records, Box 15, Folder: Letters Re: ACCL Organization from Late 1974, Gerald R. Ford Library. 52 Letter from Patty Duke, NRLC Convention Co-ordinator to Friends of Life, 9 March 1975, ACCL Records, Box 10, Folder: NRLC – Convention 1975 June 1975, Gerald R. Ford Library; and receipt for NRLC Convention exhibit space payment by ACCL, 1975, ACCL Records, Box 10, Folder: NRLC – Convention 1975 June 1975, Gerald R. Ford Library; and receipt for NRLC Convention exhibit space payment by ACCL, 1977, ACCL Records, Box 11, Folder: NRLC Convention 1977, Gerald R. Ford Library. 53 An ACCL Pamphlet from December 1980 asserts “ACCL will not be co-opted by the left or right in our quest to reinstate respect for life within American society” and “ACCL does not engage in partisan politics; we give priority to educating the public toward consensus on the value of human life, [and] participates in broad coalitions, building on points of similarity and common interests.” No Other Vehicle Quite Like Ours, pamphlet, ACCL Records, Box 26, Folder: America 12/80, Gerald R. Ford Library. 54 “A New Cause: Many Americans Join Move to Ban Abortion; Legislators Take Note,” The Wall Street Journal. 83
multi-issue approach was a tactic and a skill that largely came out of its founders’ decades of successful work and experience within MCCL. Minnesota and MCCL were vital schoolhouses for its leaders that would soon drive the national movement’s success. However, while ACCL employed an effective strategy, its finances were in poor shape (in large part due to the alternative strength of the NRLC), and leaders recognized that the motivations of many ACCL members had greatly diminished by the early 1980s. As the hopes for the HLA faded, so also did the ranks and enthusiasm of pro-life activists, no matter their affiliated group. 55 While ACCL and NRLC travelled in different directions, many pro-life activists felt lost by 1981. The movement had privately split on a grassroots and national level; publicly, not even Reagan addressed the destiny of the issue in a coherent way. As previously mentioned, while he remained pro-life in opinion, he rarely did more for the cause than occasionally appoint pro-life activists to government positions. Additionally, old wounds between Mecklenburg and the NRLC were clearly persistent into the early 1980s, as the National Right to Life Convention invited her as its keynote speaker in June of 1982, but she declined. Morton Blackwell, a conservative activist who served as a Special Assistant to President Reagan, spoke instead and introduced a pre-taped video of Ronald Reagan, which according to one 1982 Cherry Hill convention attendee, offered “warm and congenial, if vague, blessings.” 56 All this caused the convention itself to be very underwhelming, according to attendees. 57 Therefore, historian Connie Paige writes 55 For a very detailed report on the status and strategy of ACCL in the early 1980s, consult William C. Hunt’s Strategic Plan for American Citizens Concerned for Life, Inc. and American Citizens Concerned for Life, Inc. Education Fund, 19 July 1984, ACCL Records, Box 21, Folder: ACCL Admin File: Board of Directors Rev. William C. Hunt, S.T.D: (1), Gerald R. Ford Library. 56 Personal attendants at National Right to Life annual conventions, Omaha, 1981, and Cherry Hill, N.J., 1982, quoted in Paige, 232. 57 Ibid. 84
Page 1 and 2:
Abortion as a “Medical Problem Br
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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 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: On multiple levels, ACCL became a p
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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