Notes on Merton’s Enemies of Choice:

Prologue:
Dr. Jack C. Wilke was the president, at the time the book was written, of the
nationally based organization called The National Right to Life Committee.
Many antiabortionists, whether Catholic or Protestant, are fundamentalist.
Movement had its beginning in the early 1960s: took place in the State of New
York and California, led by Catholics whose argument against abortion was
linked to the church’s argument against artificial birth control.
The Right-to-life movement grew to counter liberalization in Colorado,
Massachussets, Michigan and the Washington State.
When abortion was decriminalized in 1973, anti-abortion forces had gained
considerable experience at the grass-roots level.
 1973-1976: The Catholic Church:
Right to life groups were encourage by the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops: key figure: John Cardinal Carberry of St. Louis.
Most of them became politically active for the 1rst time: found political vehicle in
the “born again” Republican Party + by 1981, “the movement had a friend in the
White House (Reagan) and working majorities in both houses of Congress” p.8.
Strength of the movement: emotional appeal + biblical message such as “Thou
Shalt not kill”.

Chapter 1: “Birth Control and the Catholic Church”:

Direct propaganda of aborted babies to shock the public: “Another photo shows
two tiny, detacher arms and two legs against a pulpy red background. Other
show whole fetuses bloody and discolored, aborted by hysterectomy or saline
injection “ p.11
1960: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the general use of birth
control pill for women.
“The speed of sexual revolution was such that many Americans, even some who
considered themselves liberal, worried about an erosion of traditional moral
standards among the young people of the country “ p.17
1965: Government of the United States was pouring millions of dollars into
family planning efforts around the country.
1968: Pope Paul VI issued Humanae Vitae that voiced the Catholic Church’s
opposition to any artificial birth control.

Chapter 2: “Of Bishops and Converts”

Catholicism is at the heart of right-to-life philosophy.
The campaign against t abortion reform officially became nationwide on April
13,1967: educated Catholics and non-Catholics regarding abortion.

Chapter 4: “Words and Pictures”:

Wilkes’ thought of pictures was a wonderful idea: would drive home the horror
of abortion in clear and unmistakable terms, so they began collecting photos of
aborted fetuses.
Legislative success: 1971: the United States of Supreme Court agreed to hear
challenges to abortion laws in two states: Texas and Georgia.
Chapter 5: “The Catholic Church vs. The U.S. Supreme Court”
The United States Supreme Court, by a vote of 7-2, ruled that the Texas and
Georgia abortion laws were unconstitutional and they had struck down all the
laws in the country that fell short of allowing abortion on demand during the
first trimester or pregnancy.
1973: Bishops continued their fusillade and on November, The National
Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a resolution to embark on a political
crusade at the grass roots level to achieve a constitutional amendment outlawing
abortion.

Chapter 6: The Right-to-life movement outside the Catholic Church:

Became nationally visible in 1974 and 1975 due to the efforts of two women
from the state of Texas:
-Mildred Faye Jefferson: doctor, black, married who had severed ties with
organized religion
-Nellie Gray: a lawyer, white, single who embraced the Catholic Church with
passion.
Jefferson was the former president of the National Right to Life Committee and
was a member of the board of directors of the Life Amendment Political Action
Committee.
Nellie Gray started her right-to-life activities with a few appearances on radio
and televisions shows. Annual event: the antiabortion march on the Capitol, the
so-called March for Life.
The National Right to Life Committee was founded in 1973 and prior to that
another organization with the same name existed (founded in 1965).
The new NRLC was conceived as a democratic institution with two board
members from every state.

Chapter 7: “Thou shalt not kill zygotes”:

Fundamentalist Protestants did not join the right-to-life movement until the late
1970s; they only became politically active in significant numbers in the late
seventies.
Jerry Falwell: became a national political power.
No direct allusion to abortion in the bible but activists gathered passages
together that showed childbearing is a blessing:
“ Behold children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is reward” Psalm
127:3

Chapter 8: “The new right takes over the grand old party”:
Groups got political: National Pro-Life Political Action Committee (NPL-PAC) and
the Life Amendment Political Action Committee (LAPAC)
They emerged as the need for a “political climate to improve chances for the
passage of human life amendment” p.160
Political Action Committee had two distinct advantages over the National Right
to Life Committee:
-They could take direct political action
-They could act fast.
Worth noticing that differences in strategy and policy emerged between the
NRLC and the two Pacs:
- Pacs favored no exceptions human life amendment whereas the NRLC favored
one that allowed abortion to save the life of the mother.
_Pacs were willing to the speak out about other issues linked to the “pro family”
movement whereas the NRLC built the strongest coalition to support a human
life amendment.
Pacs were more likely to associate themselves with the New Right and had their
first political successes in the 1978 elections.
“LAPAC is a Political Action Committee targeting the defeat of legislation that is
being designed for the destruction of the American family and, at the same time,
sponsoring legislation that reinforces Christian family values” l.165
1976: only presidential candidate to campaign solely on an antiabortion platform
was the Democrat Ellen McCormack.
BUT Republican Party adopted an extremist position of the right-to-life
movement, writing into its platform a plank supporting “the efforts of those who
seek enactment of a human life amendment” p.169
Reagan later endorsed by LAPAC, NPL-SAC and major right-to-life leaders.

Chapter 9: “Women as Untermenschen”:

What is pro-lie counseling?
It’s the best way to prevent a woman entering an abortion clinic by talking to her,
being sympathetic and showing her there are other options.
DIRECT APPROACH
Important to notice that maybe pro-life movement didn’t appeal to all women
because fundamentalists who supported the movement made in clear that
“woman is third in line behind God and man” and question their right to control
their bodies. P.181
Concept of women created with diminished powers of reason.

Chapter 10: Scene from a Convention:

Summer 1980, Eighth Annual National Right to Life Convention in Anaheim,
California.
It gathered: National Right to Life Committee + Life Amendment Political Action
Committee.
“They taped to the walls color photographs of fetuses in various stages of
development : six weeks, eight weeks, eleven,fourteen,eighteen weeks. They also
taped up a photograph of tiny human feet, the feet of fetus at ten weeks “ p.202

Epilogue:
“The goal of the right-to-life movement is the extension of constitutional
protection of the unborn at all stages of development, including the zygote at the
moment of fertilization”” p.219