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

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movement continued most prominently through actors promoting tactics and rhetoric that had proved successful for over fifteen years. The Common Thread: Marjory Mecklenburg as the Last, and Most Distinguished, Activist Standing A former home economics teacher and mother of four, Marjory Mecklenburg had moved to set up support services for pregnant teenagers in Minnesota, and progressed to head the same project on a national level under Reagan, all by 1981. 86 According to historian Michele McKeegan, her “major job qualification was her superb pro-life résumé.” 87 Far before the politicization and national scale of the abortion issue, Mecklenburg began her anti-abortion work as a founding member of MCCL in 1968. According to fellow founders Robert and Mary Joyce, Mecklenburg was hesitant at first, and unsure about related issues to abortion like birth control and family planning. Yet convinced those issues would be dealt with later in the group’s journey, Mecklenburg agreed to join and helped found the group. 88 As previously mentioned, she was not a typical national anti-abortion activist at the time, at least not what newspapers often identified as such. She was not a Catholic, but a Methodist, and was a liberal antiabortion woman who also supported family planning and birth control. Her husband, Fred, was an obstetrician-gynecologist, who was considered a family planning expert, 86 Ginsburg, 270. 87 Michele McKeegan, Abortion Politics: Mutiny in the Ranks of the Right (New York, Free Press, 1992), 67. 88 Mary and Robert Joyce interview. 93
and was also a member of Planned Parenthood. 89 While many would suspect her credentials (especially combined with her husband’s) would cause many to deem her a pro-choice activist, Mecklenburg was one of the most progressive actors of the early contemporary pro-life movement; she wanted to involve alternatives to abortion in her approach, rather than take an absolutist stance. That more absolute stance was one she countered most aggressively on the national level as a member, chairman of the board, and as brief president of NRLC. Mecklenburg was more liberal than the NRLC bishops wished. For instance, in wanting to help underage pregnant women however she could, Mecklenburg was a strong advocate of birth control. Distributing birth control to teenagers was a position that the Catholic-controlled NRLC leadership would never accept. 90 Mecklenburg was elected chairman of board of directors of NRLC in May of 1973, and accepted its ideals early in the national movement “to promote respect for the worth and dignity of all human life,” according to Mecklenburg herself, especially by passing a Human Life Amendment to prohibit abortion and euthanasia. 91 At the time, five of the top six officers and board members of the NRLC were Protestant women, but as previously mentioned, the appointment of non-Catholics to NRLC posts did not mean 89 Marjory Mecklenburg, “Developing Alternatives to Abortion, testimony given 14 march 1972 to Governor’s Commission on Abortion – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ACCL Records, Box 35, Folder: ACCL Admin File: M. Mecklenburg 1973-76 (1), Gerald R. Ford Library. 90 Paige, 85. 91 National Right to Life News, September 1973, Ford Vice Presidential Papers, Deputy Assistant for Scheduling and Appointments Files: 1973-74, Warren S. Rustand, Executive Protective Service Clearance Forms to Jerry Ford Day, Box 175, Folder: Invitations/Visits: Anti-Abortion Groups, Gerald R. Ford Library; and Marjory Mecklenburg, quoted in “City woman to head National Right to Life,” Minneapolis Tribune, 3B, 12 June 1973, ACCL Records, Box 35, Folder: ACCL Admin File: M. Mecklenburg 1973-76 (1), Gerald R. Ford Library. 94
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 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: administration. 82 Lampe took over
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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