COMPROMISE AND CONFLICT IN THE FIGHT TO END LEGALIZED ABORTION IN THE UNITED STATES, 1971-88 Prudence Flowers Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy April 2008 School of Historical Studies The University of Melbourne ABSTRACT This thesis examines the growth of organized opposition to abortion in the United States, and charts the fortunes of the right-to-life movement at a national level during the 1970s and 1980. Anti-abortionists emerged as a social movement in response to changes in the law, and after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision they struggled to present themselves as a coherent lobby group. The 1970s were thus a time of fluidity and experimentation, as right-to-lifers contemplated different approaches and argued over how best to end legalized abortion. Activists engaged in legislative efforts, political lobbying, and education initiatives, all the while teasing out what exactly it meant to be opposed to abortion. The movement at this time rejected the ideas of absolutists and instead aimed to be as broadly representative of American society as possible. Rather than clearly aligning themselves with the Left or the Right side of politics, the movement pursued a politics of moderation. This status quo was challenged, however, by the resurgence of conservatism in the late 1970s. As the social conservatives of the so-called “New Right” began to intervene in the abortion debate, right-to-lifers found themselves having to respond to a worldview that spoke only in terms of absolutes. After Ronald Reagan was elected to the Presidency in 1980, anti-abortionists needed to negotiate a political landscape in which they ostensibly had access to power and yet were repeatedly disappointed by the action (or inaction) that came from the White House. This thesis contends that in the 1980s, the relationship between right-to-lifers, the “New Right,” and the Reagan administration was often marked by disappointment and compromise. As the decade drew on, right-to- life leaders increasingly tempered the types of demands they made of the White House and of Republicans in general, and this climate eventually meant that the kinds of activists that rose to prominence within the movement were conservative and the ideas they espoused absolutist. i ii DECLARATION This is to certify that (i) the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD, (ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, (iii) this thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Prudence Genevieve FLOWERS 18 April 2008 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank my principal supervisor Dr. Katherine Ellinghaus. Kat has supervised me since my Honours year, and she has always encouraged me, reassured me, and inspired me. I can’t imagine what these years would have been like without her, and I am truly lucky to have had such a wonderful academic advisor and mentor. I must also thank my two associate supervisors, Professor Shurlee Swain and Dr. David Goodman. They have both provided me with invaluable feedback and advice about this thesis. Shurlee has helped with fresh ideas about right-to-life activism and the more general movement, and this has always helped me when I began to lose sight of the big picture. David, who volunteered to become my associate in 2006, showed an enthusiasm for this project at a time when I had lost all sense of what I was trying to say. His critiques of my work have sharpened my approach to the material (even if they also caused me to complain), and his comments have always encouraged me to strive for more. Both he and Kat have helped me gain a variety of academic experience, and I am grateful to both of them for their offers of tutoring work and then for subsequently employing me as a research assistant. I am especially grateful to the organizations that provided me with funding for this project. Thanks must go to the Lillian Ernestine Lobb bequest, which helped fund my research trip to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and to the Library of Congress. The Gerald R. Ford Library also provided me with a grant that allowed me to spend as much time as I needed working in the records held in Ann Arbor. Finally, I must thank the University of Melbourne Scholarships office, which provided financial assistance for my work at the Andover-Harvard Divinity Library through the PORES and TRIPS programs. Thanks must of course go to the librarians and archivists at the various institutions I visited. In particular, I am extremely grateful for the work of the librarians at the Gerald R. Ford Library who ensured that the many, many ACCL records that I requested had been processed and were ready for use before I arrived in the country. I would also like to thank the librarian at the Library of Congress who gave me a copy of the oral history project involving Justice Blackmun. While I was in the United States, I also benefited from the suggestions of Professor Regina Morantz-Sanchez of the University of Michigan. She kindly offered me ideas and advice about my thesis that were much appreciated. iv The staff of the School of Historical Studies has provided me with immense practical assistance, and I am particularly grateful for the work of Erica Merhtens, Ron Baird, and Coralie Crocker. Ron in particular was both a friend and a font of information about the bureaucratic side of life as a postgraduate, and his support during my various stints of grant writing was invaluable. Amongst my colleagues in the School of Historical Studies, I would like to thank Timothy Jones, Sianan Healy, and Jennine Carmichael. They ensured that my time as a graduate student was both entertaining and enriching, and they all showed me that it was possible to complete a thesis with style and panache. I am also grateful to all the postgraduate students who have provided either camaraderie or encouragement during these final months. Outside of the University, I would like to thank Timea, Byron, Lauren, Cal, Matt, Rosie, Pete, Danny, Jess, and Tom, all of whom helped me remember that life did not begin and end with the thesis. They have been both an enjoyable source of distraction as well as a strong support network. Special mention must be made of the role my family has played in the years that I have been a graduate student. My mother, Barbara, has always inspired me, and her interest in my ideas and her belief in the merits of pursuing an academic life have always helped motivate me, especially during the long and lonely trips I took to the United States. Dulcie, Peter, and Jennifer have also provided me with love and laughter and have ensured that I have never taken myself too seriously. Finally, the completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the understanding of my lovely partner Michael. He has been at all times a friend, an intellectual sparring partner, and a supporter of my work, and I dedicate this thesis to him. I only hope that I can provide the same level of encouragement for him as he works towards completion of his own PhD. v CONTENTS ABSTRACT i DECLARATION iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vii ABBREVIATIONS ix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE FIGHTING THE “HURRICANE WINDS” OF ABORTION REFORM: AMERICANS UNITED FOR LIFE AND THE STRUGGLE FOR SELF- DEFINITION 33 CHAPTER TWO ABORTION AND THE 1976 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: THE EARLY YEARS OF RIGHT-TO-LIFE POLTICAL ACTIVISM 57 CHAPTER THREE THE ANTI-ABORTION MOVEMENT AND THE DILEMMA OF THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION 81 CHAPTER FOUR THE “BABY KILLER” APPROACH: THE ANTI-ABORTION MOVEMENT AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE “NEW RIGHT” 105 CHAPTER FIVE “A MOVEMENT IN DISARRAY”: OPPONENTS OF ABORTION, THE “NEW RIGHT,” AND PRESIDENT REAGAN’S FIRST TERM IN OFFICE 129 CHAPTER SIX THE RIGHT-TO-LIFE MOVEMENT AND THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION: NEGOTIATING THE POLITICS OF ABORTION 160 CONCLUSION 181 BIBLIOGRAPHY 187 vi vii ABBREVIATIONS American Law Institute ALI American Life League ALL Americans United for Life AUL American Citizens Concerned for Life ACCL Association to Repeal Abortion Laws ARAL Christian Action Council CAC Clergy Consultation Service CCS Council for National Policy CNP Equal Rights Amendment ERA Human Life International HLI International Women’s Year IWY Life Amendment Political Action Committee LAPAC Leadership Conference on Civil Rights LCCR Massachusetts Citizens for Life MCL Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life MCCL National Conference of Catholic Bishops NCCB National Committee for a Human Life Amendment NCHLA National Organization for Women NOW National Pro-Life Political Action Committee NPLPAC National Right to Life Committee NRLC Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs OAPP People Expressing a Concern for Everyone PEACE Planned Parenthood Federation of America PPFA Society for a Christian Commonwealth SCC United States Catholic Conference USCC United States Coalition for Life USCL viii ix INTRODUCTION Sorry to hear of the blundering decision rendered by you and your associates. Your thumbs down on the lives of the unborn is surely a disgrace to “all men are created equal” and brings back pagan days. God smite America. We deserve it. Reverend Joseph A. Malik to Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun, 28 February 1973.1 One month after the Supreme Court legalized abortion, Reverend Joseph A. Malik of Saint Mary’s Church in Warren, Ohio, sent the above words in a letter to Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun. In doing so, he was expressing not just his own personal opposition to the decision in Roe v.