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

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that “[r]ather than banding together for support, [pro-life activists] responded by attacking not only their opponents but also each other…threaten[ing] the very existence of the ‘winning coalition’ and ma[king] their goal of consolidating right-to-life support in the Congress appear all the more unattainable.” 58 While pro-life forces could no longer rely on outside lobbyists working to convince Congressmen to pass pro-life amendments, the cause instead turned to the few pro-life activists who had won positions on the inside. “The abortion picture is grim,” Jan Wilkins, then President of ACCL, wrote in 1983, but she saw potential in pro-life education and in the leaders within Reagan’s administration for pro-life change. 59 While Marjory Mecklenburg and pro-life activists like her once fought for the cause from the Hartles’ living room in Minneapolis, at the St. Paul capitol, in front of Minnesota abortion clinics, in the Chicago O’Hare Airport, against Catholic biases, in Washington, D.C. forming ACCL, and lobbying ever since, she would attain a position that allowed her to advocate change within the government itself. Marjory Mecklenburg was the grassroots activist who became a government insider. Away From the Catholic Mold: Pro-Life Leaders Progress Within An Established and National Organization Framework A 1974 ACCL pamphlet distributed to pro-life leaders nationwide gave nearly twenty pages of advice to unfounded and developing groups and activists. The pamphlet 58 Paige, 222. 59 Letter from Jan Wilkins to Rev. Leonard A. Hirman, 14 June 1983, ACCL Records, Box 14, Folder: ACCL – Admin File: General Correspondence: 1983 (2), Gerald R. Ford Library. 85
asserted, “often a few key people make decisions that affect many lives.” 60 Indeed, throughout the history explored in this paper, it is clear many supporters took part in the pro-life movement, but the main decisions and the main victories were largely made and won by a few major activists who progressed from grassroots beginnings to the state and national scenes. Contrary to the 1970s view that most pro-life activists were “predominantly male and overwhelmingly Roman Catholic,” many of the most successful activists in the early contemporary anti-abortion/pro-life campaign were not Catholic, and were often women. 61 As early as 1974, Marjory Mecklenburg asserted, “[w]e need to let the press see the kinds of people working on the issue” to properly explain and progress it. 62 Given that sentiment, leaders outside the 1970s antiabortion/pro-life activist stereotype proved vital to the movement’s continuing relevance throughout the post-Roe years. Further, while Mecklenburg was the most visible non- Catholic grassroots activist to ascend to national leadership roles, she was not the only one. Many national leaders came out of Minnesota and demonstrate how vital the state and the actors it produced were to the early anti-abortion/pro-life movement. Alice Hartle began her pro-life work as a primary founder of MCCL, hosting the group’s founding meeting in her own living room in 1968. From there, Hartle became the editor of the MCCL Newsletter from its start in 1969 until December of 1973, when she departed Minnesota for Washington D.C. and became the founder and editor of the National Right to Life News. According to author Connie Paige, activists nationwide 60 Darla St. Martin, Mobilizing Pro-Life Forces, pamphlet, 1 January 1974, p. 2, ACCL Records, Box 18, Folder: ACCL Admin File: OD Mobilizing Pro-Life Forces, Gerald R. Ford Library. 61 David Kuhn, “Antiabortion lobby seeks new image,” Minneapolis Tribune, 5B, 22 February 1974, ACCL Records, Box 35, Folder: ACCL Admin File: M. Mecklenburg 1973-76 (1), Gerald R. Ford Library. 62 Ibid. 86
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
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in New York, California, and Colora
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is a unique and important one to te
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major factors led to MCCL’s victo
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Well before Blackmun’s 1972 Mayo
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Chapter 1: The Pre-History of the C
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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: multi-issue approach was a tactic a
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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