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

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Actors in this movement ranged from physicians and law professors to pastors and housewives; all these concerned citizens actively participated in educating others and lobbying for their cause, motivated by individual morals, safety, and concern for human life. The anti-abortion groups of the 1960s and 1970s drew on themes rooted in the physician-led nineteenth century anti-abortion movement in their own twentieth century fight against the push for liberalized abortion law reform. The frequent clashes between the two camps, which both used scientific and medical rhetoric to make their very different claims, necessitate an analysis and comparison of the two. However, this paper will begin by interpreting the story of Minnesota’s most prominent 1960s anti-abortion group, as the anti-abortion movement of this state was an exceptional and successful one. Unlike abortion laws in states like New York, Colorado, and Hawaii, Minnesota’s nineteenth century abortion law was not reversed before the Roe decision. 4 Perhaps this explains the limited scholarship on the Minnesota abortion debate, compared to debates documents investigating and recording the Minnesota abortion debate in the decade preceding Roe, the Minnesota House of Representatives Report both framed the debate for the 1969 legislative session and established the rhetoric the Minnesota legislature would use for years to come. The report records both “testimony from proponents of abortion” and “testimony from opponents of abortion reform;” the author believes abbreviations to pro-abortion and anti-abortion may be permitted, especially when considering also personal papers and media sources of the time. Indeed, as late as 1972, Minnesota newspapers still used the same terms. The author found ample headlines employing this rhetoric, asserting “Antiabortion Push Failed at Polls,” ii “Mayo Doctor Launches Antiabortion Campaign,” iii and “Former Pro-Abortion Pastor New ‘Right to Life’ Executive,” iv in 1970s articles found in activists’ papers. After the Roe decision, the author found the terms pro-life and pro-choice to be much more common in newspapers, in internal correspondence among all sides of the debate, and in Congressional Hearing Minutes. To this end, the author deems it appropriate to use the rhetoric employed by both camps of the debate, as well as more neutral and official (legislative) sources, in corresponding periods of time in this paper. i. Katherine Taylor Wood Papers, Box 1, Folder: Legislation Minnesota 1967-1969, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN.; ii. St. Paul Dispatch, 13 November 1972, Section 2A, Box 3, Folder: Newspaper Clippings 1971, Katherine Taylor Wood Papers, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN.; iii. Dave Giel, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 3 June 1970, Box 1, Folder: Newspaper Clippings 1967-1970, Governor Harold Levander Papers, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN.; iv. St. Paul Dispatch, 1 August 1973, Folder: Warren Schaller, Historical Files Box, MCCL Archives, MCCL Headquarters, Minneapolis, MN. 4 Newsletters, 1970-1973, Historical Files Box, MCCL Archives. 3
in New York, California, and Colorado. 5 At first glance, Minnesota’s conventional characterization as a liberal, progressive state is at odds with the emergence of a thriving anti-abortion movement. Yet, a closer exploration of Minnesota politics and the tactics employed by both sides of the pre-Roe abortion debate shows this Minnesota political culture in fact nurtured such activist grassroots organizations. Additionally, an understanding of the abortion debate in Minnesota, where abortion law reform was defeated, offers new insight into the debate’s progression to the national level after the Roe v. Wade decision. This thesis will briefly continue to follow the Minnesota story in the years after 1973, but the greater scholarly value for understanding the evolution of the early contemporary anti-abortion movement must continue in an analysis of the national movement in the years after 1973. As the Supreme Court decision overruled all standing state laws and pending debates, the abortion debate flew away from the state level and onto the national stage with Roe v. Wade. Appropriately, this thesis will follow the Minnesotans who founded MCCL in 1968 through the state group’s founding years, and onward and upward to their positions as leaders and founders of national pro-life groups, many of which still exist today. The debate itself shifted from its origins as a non-religious, non-partisan issue to quite the opposite; with this shift, grassroots leaders adapted their tactics to work toward 5 For more on the abortion debates in these three states, ranging from the mid-1800s to the turn of the 21 st century, see: Stacie Taranto, “Defending ‘Family Values’: Women’s Grassroots Politics and the Republican Right, 1970-1980,” Ph.D. dissertation, Brown University, 2005; Rosemary Nossiff, Before Roe: Abortion Policy in the States (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001); Michael A. Russo, “California: A Political Landscape for Choice and Conflict,” in Abortion Politics in American States, ed. Mary C. Segers and Timothy A. Byrnes, 168-181 (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Inc, 1995); Clifford Browder, The Wickedest Woman in New York: Madame Restell, The Abortionist (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1988); Eyal Press, Absolute Convictions: My Father, a City, and the Conflict That Divided America (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006); John T. McGreevy, Catholicism and American Freedom (New York: W.W. Norton & Company: 2003), 270-278; and Mildred Danforth, Anti-abortion Women of America: A Sampling (Lewiston, Me.: M.E. Danforth, 1982). 4
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: this first neighborhood grassroots
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 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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