Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., was a seminarian when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision legalizing abortion on demand, but the impact of the news remains fresh in his mind.
"I felt very passionate about protecting the dignity of all human life and was saddened and mystified by the court's decision," recalled Archbishop Naumann, who had already been active in the civil-rights movement and later emerged as a leading pro-life advocate in his archdiocese.
As the nation prepares to mark the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Catholic pro-life leaders across the nation considered how the 1973 decision spurred their own activism, while also shaping the identity and mission of the Catholic Church in the United States.
By the early 1970s, grassroots efforts to overturn liberal abortion laws in states like New York and California had begun in earnest.
Yet few anticipated that pro-life advocacy would become their life's work and ultimately forge a robust ecumenical alliance of Catholic and Protestant churches joined to defend the unborn.
When the high court handed down its decision, it stunned Michael Taylor, now the executive director of the Washington-based National Committee for a Human Life Amendment. At the time, Taylor was directing the National Right to Life Committee, temporarily housed at the bishops' conference before it became an independent, non-sectarian organization.
"The issue was not national in 1972, and my job was to work with right-to-life groups across the country," Taylor recalled during an interview with the Register. "It was a different world in those days: There was more anti-Catholicism. The Church was urging the development of right-to-life groups, but the word 'pro-life' didn't exist."
Four states had already approved liberal abortion laws, and a larger number allowed abortion in cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. Taylor knew the high court would soon hand down a decision in the Roe case. But he was buoyed by the fact that no new abortion laws had passed since 1970, and so hoped that the issue might be losing momentum.
Supreme Shock
Then, on Jan. 22, 1973, the Supreme Court's ruling was announced. Taylor rushed to the court to obtain a copy of the decision and immediately realized it was a "game changer."
"We thought they would be more moderate. Instead, it was far more extreme than any other law in existence," he said. "It made the issue national. They had taken the other side's case completely. Every problem we have had since Roe is because the court seized control of the issue."
Just before the ruling, Taylor had thought he could take a break and return to graduate school. Instead, he became even more involved in organizing right-to-life committees across the country — though he did eventually go back to school.
Today, Taylor believes that the high court's decision led Church leaders, along with pro-life advocates of every denomination, to become more engaged in public-policy debates on social issues. And those early days of the pro-life movement have given him a more nuanced view of two emerging movements to uphold traditional marriage and religious freedom.
"The pro-life movement didn't happen overnight. People [who are now pro-life] have told me, 'I spent a whole year working on the [abortion] issue, and I have changed my mind.' Over 40 years, Americans have been educated, and they have educated themselves. In contrast, the marriage issue is new stuff, comparatively."
Phyllis Schlafly, for her part, was "absorbed with the ERA [Equal Rights Amendment]" when the Roe decision was announced.
Yet, just a few years earlier, she and her husband, Fred, had helped to block an effort to legalize abortion in Illinois.
After Roe made abortion on demand the law of the land, however, Schlafly soon perceived that some feminist activists believed the ERA would help secure access to abortion.
"Feminist leaders who supported the ERA" wanted to use it to obtain federal funding of abortion, Schlafly stated during a telephone interview.
"Their argument was that if abortion is only for women, and you deny funding of abortion, you are discriminating against women," she said.
From her perch directing a national political movement opposing the ERA, Schlafly also witnessed some initial friction between Catholics and Protestant opponents of abortion rights. "The Catholic bishops took up the fight right away. They were out front on abortion. The result was that Protestants didn't come aboard right away. Around 1973-75, there was still a lot of standoffishness. But, by '77, the Protestants came aboard and have been prominent ever since," she said.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/march-for-life-turns-40/
Source: NC Register
