Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women

by Susan Faludi

  “The irony of it all . . .”: Personal interview with Bridget Arimond, 1989.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN. REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS UNDER THE BACKLASH

  “Don’t kill me . . .”: Personal observation at National Day of Rescue II, April 29, 1989, in Sacramento, Calif.

  We’re not allowed to speak . . .”: Personal interview, April 29, 1989. (Subsequent quotes from this event are also from personal interviews.)

  Like the “anti-vice” crusade . . .: “Anthony Comstock,” Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. II (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958) p. 330; Colin Francome, Abortion Freedom: A Worldwide Movement (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1984) p. 47.

  Virtually all of . . .: See Susan Faludi, “Abortion Obsession,” Mother Jones, Nov. 1989, p. 22. This demographic information is pieced together from police arrest records of Operation Rescue events, reports of law-enforcement officers and civil liberties organizations that monitor the activities of antiabortion groups, and the Operation Rescue staff’s own estimates. Many other key players in the ’80s antiabortion movement fit this demographic: Samuel Lee and Andrew Puzder, who drafted the restrictive Missouri abortion law that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Webster decision, were thirty-one and thirty-three years old. Lee did not have a place to live and slept on friends’ couches. See Cynthia Gorney, “Taking Aim at Roe v. Wade,” The Washington Post Magazine, April 9, 1989, p. 18. An earlier study of participants in the antiabortion and pro-choice movements found that antiabortion activists disproportionately belong to the lowest income brackets: one-third make less than $20,000, compared with one-fifth of pro-choice advocates. See Kristin Luker, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984) p. 221.

  Pro-choice women, he charged . . .: Petchesky, Antiabortion, Antifeminism, p. 221.

  “God didn’t create . . .”: Personal observation, 1989.

  In his 1986 Men and Marriage . . .: Gilder, Men and Marriage, p. 107.

  In the case of . . .: The judge sympathized: he granted a temporary restraining order without even giving the wife a chance to speak in court on her own behalf. Later, he forced her to testify in an open court, then barred the abortion. Even after his ruling was overturned on appeal—a month later—the state supreme court granted the husband’s request to extend the injunction against his wife’s abortion for another week. See Reproductive Freedom Project Legal Docket, 1988, ed. by Diana Traub, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, p. 77.

  “I just didn’t like . . .”: Pat Milton, “Husband Sues Wife and Doctors for Abortion Without Knowledge,” AP, April 21, 1988; personal interview with David Ostreicher, May 1988.

  In upstate New York . . .: Susan Church, “Woman Has Abortion Hours Before Appeal Heard,” Press and Sun-Bulletin, Sept. 21, 1988, p. 5.

  In fact, American women . . .: Luker, Politics of Motherhood, p. 19; Carl Haub and Mary Kent, “U.S. Abortions Up? Down?” Population Today, Nov. 1987, pp. 6-7; Tamar Lewin, “U.S. Abortion Rate Shows 6% Decline,” New York Times, April 26, 1991, p. A14. Conversely, banning abortion doesn’t necessarily stem the number of abortions either: in Brazil, where abortion is illegal, the abortion rate is three times higher than in the United States. Banning abortion, however, does make the operation more lethal: before the legalization of abortion, about ten thousand women a year died from illegal abortions that went awry, and illegal abortions were the leading cause of maternal death and mutilation.

  As a result, in the half . . .: O’Neill, Everyone Was Brave, pp. 297-98; Steven D. McLaughlin, Barbara D. Melber, John O. G. Billy, Denise M. Zimmerle, Linda D. Winges, and Terry R. Johnson, The Changing Lives of American Women (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1988) pp. 84-86.

  By 1980, a landmark sex survey . . .: 1980 Cosmopolitan Sex Survey. See Linda Wolfe, “The Sexual Profile of That Cosmopolitan Girl,” Cosmopolitan, Sept. 1980, p. 254.

  In these decisions . . .: The 1990 Virginia Slims Opinion Poll, pp. 53, 41; Mark Clements Research Women’s Views Survey, 1987.

  Sterilization became the leading . . .: “One in Six Women Sterilized,” Reproductive Rights Update, American Civil Liberties Union, 2, no. 12 (June 8, 1990): 8; Charles F. Westoff, “Fertility in the United States,” Science, 234 (Oct. 31, 1986): 557.

  Males have almost . . .”: Gilder, Men and Marriage, p. 107.

  The harridans . . .”: Tom Bethell, “Operation Rescue,” The American Spectator, Dec. 1988, p. 11. The connection between supernatural women and cultural rites of abortion or infanticide is long-standing. During the witchcraft burnings of the 16th and 17th centuries, a popular image that theologians advanced involved sorceresses who rubbed themselves down with the fat of murdered infants so they could slip through keyholes. See Page Smith, Daughters of the Promised Land: Women in American History(Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1970) p. 31.

  In his 1988 antiabortion . . .: George Grant, Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood (Brentwood, Tenn.: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, 1988) pp. 17, 21, 24, 176.

  Antiabortion leader Father . . .: Stanley Interrante, “The Rescue Movement Comes to Southern California,” The Wanderer, Feb. 16, 1989.

  In Joseph Scheidler’s . . .: Joseph M. Scheidler, Closed: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1985) p. 68. The antiabortion leader also tried to convince modern women that they would be more liberated if they opposed abortion. “A true feminist,” Scheidler argued, “would believe in herself enough not to have an abortion.” Personal interview with Joseph Scheidler, 1989.

  “Let’s be positive . . .”: Dr. and Mrs. J. C. Willke, Abortion: Questions and Answers (Cincinnati, Ohio: Hayes Publishing Co., 1985) p. 240.

  The Willke handbook . . .: Ibid., p. 241.

  “The baby has to have a choice!” . . .: “Abortion Showdown: Hearing Begins in Supreme Court,” San Jose Mercury News, April 26, 1989, p. A1.

  Women didn’t . . .: Women Exploited by Abortion, or WEBA, a satellite group of Operation Rescue, “treated” women said to be suffering from “Post-Abortion Syndrome.” WEBA offered two-month courses in which counselors instructed their female patients to write letters of apology to their aborted “children” and sign them, “Love, Mommy.” Personal interviews with counselors at WEBA in New York and San Jose, 1989. See also Stephanie Salter, “She Spied on Operation Rescue,” San Francisco Examiner, Aug. 6, 1989, p. A19.

  Women who were unhappy . . .: Post-Abortion Syndrome was an ailment that even Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who opposed abortion, could find no scientific evidence to support. See Warren E. Leary, “Koop Says Abortion Report Couldn’t Survive Challenge,” New York Times, March 17, 1989, p. A10.

  National Right to . . .: Willke and Willke, Abortion, p. 273.

  Pro-Life Action . . .: Personal interview with Joseph Scheidler, 1989; Mary Suh and Lydia Denworth, “The Gathering Storm: Operation Rescue,” Ms., April 1989, p. 92.

  I was conceived out of . . .”: Personal interview with Randall Terry, 1989. For longer version of the Terry story, see Faludi, “Abortion Obsession.” (Subsequent Terry quotations and biographical information are from personal interviews unless otherwise noted.)

  “Randy Terry’s backlash . . .”: Personal interview with Dawn Marvin, 1989.

  Terry’s three aunts . . .: Personal interviews with Dawn Marvin, Diane Hope, Dale Ingram, and Doreen Terry (the DiPasquale sisters), 1989.

  He offers an example . . .: Sanger’s sexual behavior became a subject of almost obsessive interest in 1980s antiabortion circles. Her “sordid and promiscuous affairs” were attacked with particular intensity in one of the more popular antiabortion treatises of the decade, George Grant’s Grand Illusions. See Grant, Grand Illusions, p. 58.

  His father, Michael Terry . . .: Personal interview with Michael Terry, 1989.

  She tells how she . . .: Personal interview with Cindy Terry, 1989.

  Alex Aitken, a clinic . . .: Personal interview with Alex Aitken, 1989.

 
; In her place, Terry . . .: Personal interviews with Margaret Johnston, administrator of the Southern Tier Women’s Services, and other clinic counselors at Southern Tier, and Binghamton, N.Y., police investigators, 1989. This sort of behavior wasn’t peculiar to Terry. Joseph Scheidler hired a private detective to hunt down a pregnant teenager whom he heard was seeking an abortion. See Garry Wills, “Evangels of Abortion,” The New York Review of Books, June 15, 1989, p. 15.

  By 1985, Terry had . . .: Personal interviews with clinic counselors at Southern Tier, 1989; personal interviews with police investigators in Binghamton, 1989.

  During still another . . .: Personal interview with woman who was assaulted, 1989; personal interview with police investigators, 1989.

  By 1989, Operation Rescue . . .: Personal interview with staff members at Operation Rescue headquarters, 1989.

  The day I visited . . .: Personal observation and interview with office manager of the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Binghamton, N.Y., 1989.

  As for the homes . . .: Personal interview with staff members at Operation Rescue headquarters, 1989.

  At their instigation . . .: “Incidents of Violence and Disruption Against Abortion Providers,” National Abortion Federation, Washington, D.C., May 15, 1989; “The Threat to Health Care Workers and Patients: Antiabortion Violence and Harassment,” National Abortion Federation, Washington, D.C., May 1988; “Violence Against Clinics Remains Serious Problem,” Reproductive Rights Update, II, no. 23: 4–5; “Repro Woman,” Ms., Oct. 1989, p. 50.

  The story of the campaign . . .: By 1988, thirty-five states had passed parental consent laws; thirty states and the District of Columbia had banned state Medicaid-funded abortion. A Minnesota law required young women to get permission for an abortion from both parents, even if they were only in the legal custody of one parent—as was the case with half the daughters in the state. A Pennsylvania law issued in 1989 demanded that a grown woman notify her husband before she had an abortion.

  In fact, the Webster . . .: The Gallup Poll reports that nearly eight out of ten Americans have supported legal abortion since 1975. The Louis Harris Poll finds that six out of ten people oppose amending the Constitution to ban abortion. The Hickman-Marlin Poll of registered voters finds 77 percent believe abortion is a private, not governmental, decision. Surveys by Newsweek, CBS News, ABC News, and NBC News have come up with similar results. The Webster decision only strengthened pro-choice sentiments: the Associated Press/Media General’s July 1989 survey found that support for Roe rose six percentage points after the Supreme Court ruling. For increasing support over the last few decades, see Luker, Politics of Motherhood, pp. 216-17, 225; “American Adults’ Approval of Legal Abortion Has Remained Virtually Unchanged Since 1972,” Family Planning Perspectives, 17 (July-Aug. 1985): 4.

  A majority now favored . . .: Louis Harris Poll, 1989; Associated Press/Media General Survey, 1989.

  Ironically, then, the much-maligned . . .”: Luker, Politics of Motherhood, p. 14.

  In 1800, abortion was legal . . .: Ibid., pp. 14-15; Linda Gordon, Woman’s Body/Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America (New York: Penguin Books, 1977 edition) pp. 52-53.

  Suddenly, the New York Times Luker, Politics of Motherhood, p. 267; Gordon, Woman’s Body, p. 52. Luker observes that the New York Times printed no stories at all on abortion from 1851 (the start of the New York Times index) until the mid-1860s. In the 1870s, however, the newspaper became preoccupied with the threat of the procedure; at the peak of its obsession, 1871, the New York Times ran sixty-nine stories on the subject.

  Suddenly, the American . . .: Luker, Politics of Motherhood, pp. 27-32, 20.

  Suddenly, “purity” crusaders . . .: Francome, Abortion Freedom, p. 47; Gordon, Woman’s Body, p. 65; David M. Kennedy, Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970) p. 45.

  By the end of the . . .: Francome, Abortion Freedom, p. 76; Luker, Politics of Motherhood, p. 15.

  “Whether we are . . .”: Cott, Modern Feminism, p. 48.

  In the hundreds of . . .: The Helms Amendment did not even permit abortion to save a woman’s life. See Harriet F. Pilpel, “The Fetus as Person: Possible Legal Consequences of the Hogan-Helms Amendment,” Family Planning Perspectives, 6, no. 1 (Winter 1974): 6; “Special Report: Anti-and Pro-Choice Ballot Initiatives Scheduled,” Reproductive Rights Update, 2, no. 8 (April 13, 1990); “Josephine County Voters Defeat Birth Control Consent Initiative,” Reproductive Rights Update, 2, no. 11 (May 25, 1990); “Who Decides? A State by State Review of Abortion Rights in America,” The NARAL Foundation, 1989, pp. iv-v; Guy Coates, “Louisiana OKs New Anti-Abortion Bill,” San Francisco Examiner, July 9, 1990, p. A8; Margaret Carlson, “Abortion’s Hardest Cases,” Time, July 9, 1990, p. 22; “Anti-Abortion Law Is Passed by Idaho House by 47 to 36,” New York Times, March 10, 1990; Maralee Schwartz, “Utah Enacts Abortion Limits, Prepares for Bitter Court Test,” Washington Post, Jan. 26, 1991, p. A2; Dan Balz, “Guam Surprises Abortion Activists, New Restrictive Law Puts Pacific Island in Middle of Controversy,” Washington Post, March 24, 1990, p. A11.

  In the last two years . . .: Tiffany Devitt, “Abortion Coverage Leaves Women Out of the Picture,” Extra!, March—April 1991, p. 5.

  The American Bar Association . . .: “ABA Rescinds Pro-Choice Position,” Reproductive Rights Update, 2, no. 16 (Sept. 14, 1990): 7.

  Even moderate religious denominations . . .: The American Baptist Church retracted its long-standing support for a woman’s right to legalized abortion, replaced it with a “neutral” posture, and withdrew from the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights. The Presbyterian Church, USA, empaneled a task force to review the pro-Roe stance it had held since 1970. And the United Methodist Church modified its endorsement of Roe, too. Information from the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, 1990.

  The Catholic bishops . . .: Ari L. Goldman, “Bishops Hire Pros to Sway Public Against Abortion,” Sacramento Bee, April 6, 1990, p. A1; Nadine Brozan, “Cardinal Proposes Order of Nuns to Fight Abortion,” New York Times, Nov. 4, 1989; “New Jersey Governor Quits Knights of Columbus,” Reproductive Rights Update, 2, no. 12 (June 8, 1990): 7; Robin Toner, “Catholic Politicians See Line on Duty,” New York Times, June 25, 1990, p. A1; “Bishop Excommunicates Abortion Clinic Administrator,” Reproductive Rights Update, 2, no. 14 (July 6, 1990): 5; Eric Pace, “No Unanimity on Abortion Excommunication,” New York Times, June 16, 1990, p. 10.

  By 1987, 85 percent . . .: Barbara Ehrenreich, “Mothers Unite,” The New Republic, July 10, 1989, p. 30; “Guttmacher Study: Rural Abortion Providers Drop by Half,” Reproductive Rights Update, 2, no. 14 (July 6, 1990): 7; Tamar Lewin, “Abortions Harder to Get in Rural Areas of Nation,” New York Times, June 28, 1990, p. A18.

  In Missouri . . .: Stephen Wermiel and Michel McQueen, “Turning Point? Historic Court Ruling Will Widen Disparity in Access to Abortion,” The Wall Street Journal, July 5, 1989, p. A1.

  At Kansas City’s . . .: Ibid., p. A14.

  The Cook County . . .: “Chicago Hospital Trades Abortion Service for Real Estate,” Reproductive Rights Update, 3, no. 2 (Jan. 25, 1991): 5.

  Federal funding was no longer . . .: Data from National Abortion Rights Action League.

  (Moreover, eight states. . .): “Economics of Abortion,” National Abortion Federation, Fact Sheet, Nov. 1985, p. 1.

  In Michigan, a state ban . . .: The ranks of welfare babies also rose 31 percent in this same period. At the same time, the numbers of low-income women seeking sterilization increased dramatically and the proportion of poor babies being put up for adoption rose by about 50 percent, according to a survey of adoption agencies in the Detroit area. See Patricia Chargot, “Abortion and the Poor,” Detroit Free Press, Aug. 5, 1990, p. F1.

  The handful of private . . .: Barbara Brotman, “Private Agencies Filling Abortion Funding Gap,” Chicago Tribune, Jan. 22, 1990, p. C1.

  Rosie Jimenez . . .: Gina Seay, “Abortion-Rights Group to
Launch Campaign to Recruit Young Teens,” Houston Chronicle, Aug. 26.

  When Spring Adams . . .: “Slain Girl Was to Have Abortion,” Argus Observer, Aug. 31, 1989; Margie Boulie, “Now He Admits It, Now He Doesn’t,” Portland Oregonian, Mar. 13, 1990, Editorial Section, p. 1.

  Federally funded sex-education . . .: Linda Greenhouse, “Anti-Abortion Aid Stirs Church-State Questions,” New York Times, March 17, 1988, p. 12; Karen Gustafson, “The New Politics of Abortion,” Utne Reader, March—April 1989, p. 19.

  Whether as a . . .: “College Paper to Ban Abortion Clinic Ads,” New York Times, Aug. 18, 1989; Lisa Stansky, “Group Seeks Ads in School Papers,” The Recorder, Oct. 19, 1990, p. 1; “Florida TV Stations Refuse to Air Pro-Choice Ads,” Media Report to Women, Nov.-Dec. 1990, p. 4; “Abortion Bulletin,” Eleanor Smeal Report, 6, no. 11 (March 25, 1989): 2.

  New York Giants . . .: Anna Quindlen, “Offensive Play,” New York Times, Jan. 24, 1991, p. A23.

  A NOW ad that simply . . .: “Briefs,” Media Report to Women, May-June 1989, p. 10. In 1989, at the Press Journal in Vero Beach, Fla., a reporter was fired after she wrote some letters in support of legal abortion to state legislators. That same year, after the student newspaper at Marquette University published an ad for the Washington march for abortion rights—which read “Stand Up. Be Counted. While You Still Have the Choice”—the university administration ordered the firing of the school paper’s business manager and suspended both the editor and advertising director.

  The Los Angeles Times and . . .: Personal interview with Tamar Raphael, The Fund for the Feminist Majority, 1989.

  (And women who wrote. . .): Letter from Don Clark, executive vice president of marketing of the Los Angeles Times, Aug. 8, 1989. Mr. Clark also said that the newspaper hadn’t outright turned down the ad, only refused to print it unless it was “toned down” and made “less graphic.”

  On the other hand . . .: “Should an Innocent Child Pay for a Brutal Father’s Mistake. . . With Her Life?” Advertisement, American Life League, Inc., USA Today, Jan. 22, 1991, p. A11.