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PAGE 3—January 31,1974
Pro-Life Advocates Lobby To End Abortion
BY JERRY FILTEAU
WASHINGTON (NC) - Dr. John
Kelly from Evanston, Ill. Cathy
Hallagan from St. Scholastica High
School, Chicago, Eleanor Audlin, a
schoolteacher from Syracuse, N.Y.,
Ruth-Marie Leggin from Winona, Minn.,
a member of the National Youth
Pro-Life Coalition (NYPLC). John
Townsend and his three young
daughters from Schererville, Ind. Four
college-age men, NYPLC members from
Providence, R.I.
From around the country these and
thousands of others came on Jan. 22 to
tell their congressmen they want a
constitutional amendment to protect
the unborn. Their lobbying efforts were
part of the National March for Life in
the nation’s capital, marking the first
anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s
decisions lifting legal restrictions on
abortion.
Most of those who came did not see
their senators or representatives - for
most congressmen it was a day of
business as usual - but they talked to
administrative aides or legislative
assistants.
And they brought roses. Many who
couldn’t make the trip sent roses.
Thousands of them.
A spot check of one hallway in the
Cannon House Office Building at 10:30
in the morning showed there were
already from eight to 24 roses in almost
every office. Eight for Rep. Robert
Drinan (D.-Mass.), eight for Samuel
Young (R.-Ill.), 24 for Robert Steele
(R.-Conn.), 12 for Peter Kyros (D.-Me.),
six for Charles Wiggins (R.-Cal.), and so
on down the line.
The roses were sent “in memory of
the innocent victims of abortion who
died during the first year of the ‘Post
Judeo-Christian Era of Law’ in
America.”
Those who came in person were
trying to end that era. In the morning
they lobbied; in the afternoon they
scheduled a massive rally at the Capitol
building, with a march around the
Capitol, passing the Supreme Court
building.
Some came armed to the teeth with
knowledge of the legislative facts and
political ins and outs.
Like William Devlin and John Short,
co-chairman of Life Lobby, Inc., whose
first stop was the office of Rep. Peter
Rodino, Jr., (D-N.J.), chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, which is
responsible for initial action on
constitutional amendments.
Short is publisher of Triumph, a
conservative Catholic magazine, and he
maintains an office in the Washington
suburbs from which he monitors
legislative activity and lobbies in
Congress.
Devlin, a commercial artist who
designed the rose symbol for the
national march, has been actively
involved in the New York right-to-life
movement and is now concentrating his
efforts on the federal level.
They had three basic questions to ask
Rodino’s administrative assistant,
Francis O’Brien: “will Mr. Rodino
sponsor a pro-life amendment on his
own? Will the Judiciary Committee pull
the present amendments under
consideration out of Congressman W.
Donlon Edwards’ (D.-Cal.)
subcommittee and hold hearings? Will
Mr. Rodino support or cosponsor the
HOGAN Amendment with changes
suggested by Angelo Roncallo
(R.N.Y.)?”
The Hogan Amendment, introduced
last year by Rep. Lawrence Hogan
(R-Md.), is considered by most in the
pro-life movement to be the best hope
for stopping abortion. It declares that
human life shall be accorded the rights
of due process of law from the time of
conception.
The Roncallo changes, Short said,
would make the amendment more
precise and complete.
O’Brien told the Life Lobby
representatives that Rodino did not
have the time or manpower to handle
every issue in the Judiciary Committee
on the committee level. “That’s what
subcommittees are for,” he said. On the
other issues he said he would get a
response from Rodino that afternoon
when he saw him on the Hill.
After the meeting in Rodino’s office,
Devlin and Short headed for the office
of Rep. Paul Rogers (D.-Fla.), chairman
of the subcommittee on public health
and environment, to lobby on
biomedical research issues, with
additional visits scheduled for later in
the day.
But most of the pro-lifers were there
with less expertise. They were there to
express their feelings, their concern, the
importance of the moral issues they
perceived.
Yet they were there to witness their
belief and hope.
“We’re here asking for the protection
of all babies, and all human life at
whatever stage,” said Michelle
Moscatelli, a housewife from Auburn,
N.Y., and member of New York State
Right to Life. “We are working to
prevent not only abortion, but also
euthanasia, lack of concern for the sick,
the aged and the poor.”
“We’re here to guarantee what was
stated by our founding fathers in the
Declaration of Independence,” said
Eleanor Audlin of Syracuse, school
teacher, housewife, and mother of
two. “The Supreme Court’s Dred Scott
decision was reversed, and this one (the
abortion decision) can be, too. The
sacredness of life, the guarantee of
protection is our concern.”
Asked why she had come all the way
from Chicago, high school student
Cathy Hallagan echoed the thoughts of
many of the younger lobbyists: “I want
to show that there are younger people
who are concerned, too - not just the
older ones.”
The direct impact of their meetings
was questionable. While four NYPLC
representatives were meeting with an
aide in Rep. Drinan’s office, another of
the Jesuit priest-congressman’s aides
told this reporter:
“There is something extremely
motivating and emotional on this issue.
But constitutional amendments are
notoriously difficult things to get
passed.- What these people don’t seem to
realize is that, strong as this lobby is,
they’ve only manged to get 12 (out of a
possible 535) signatures on the Hogan
Amendment. . .They don’t understand
that you can believe in the sanctity and
inviolability of human life, and yet say
that the Supreme Court has spoken. As
a constitutional lawyer, Drinan’s
position is that this is not a proper
subject for federal regulation.”
IN SPAIN
Reconciliation Stressed
By Bishops’ Commission
MADRID, Spain (NC) - The
permanent commission of the Spanish
Bishops’ Conference created a
committee for reconciliation and
NEW YORK (NC) - The $1 billion
U.S. corporate investment in southern
Africa has contributed to worsening the
standard of living of blacks there and
should be withdrawn, said a report by
the National Council of Churches’
Corporate Information Center (CIC).
Summarizing the argument for
withdrawal, the CIC concluded:
- The whole of southern Africa is in
the beginning stages of a major racial
war and U.S. companies, through taxes
paid to the governments there and sales
of products to the military, are
bolstering white military might.
-- U.S. investors are advancing
long-range southern African economic
programs, which are planned with the
intention of keeping whites in power.
- The $1 billion U.S. investment in
southern Africa is an important factor
in U.S. foreign policy and the conflict
of interest between U.S. investors and
the economic and political
self-determination of blacks must be
dissolved.
-- Withdrawal of U.S. investments
would indicate to southern Africa that
the United States is dedicated to
self-determination and majority rule.
The CIC report, a 240-page document
called “Church Investments,
Corporations and Southern Africa,” was
commissioned by the national agencies
of several Protestant churches. It traces
the history of southern Africa and of
U.S. investments there, gives the
number and names of U.S. corporations
located there, and describes their
policies, pay scales by race, profits and
compliance with the systematic
dominance of 38 million African, Asian
and colored people by five million
whites.
The report, which took some 18
criticized the tactics used by
progressives within the Church in last
year’s Church-state conflict.
The commission had been asked by
months of research and writing,
concerns only the Republic of South
Africa, Namibia (South West Africa),
Rhodesia, and the Portuguese colonies
of Angola, Mozambique and
Guinea-Bissau.
The report lists the total number of /
all U.S. Corporations with southern
African operations, gives a brief
summary of 53 of them and a complete
profile of the largest 15.
The report states that “analyses by
economists and sociologists using
various statistical data and trends
published by South African
government, business and private
agencies show that foreign investment
has brought no substantial improvement
in the standard of living for blacks and
in fact has contributed to the worsening
of their condition.”
Contending that U.S. firms “give no
attention to the sheer magnitude of
misery and poverty blacks suffer in
South Africa,” the report says that 95
percent of all blacks in South Africa
receive incomes below the basic minimal
level of $196 a month that would begin
to alleviate poverty and deficient
nutrition among them.
The report gives statistics showing
that as foreign investment increases, the
gap between black and white incomes
widens. It quotes South African
economist Francis Wilson saying that, in
the mining industry, which employed
13 percent of the black labor force in
1970, “black cash earnings in 1969 were
no higher and possibly even lower than
they had been in 1911.”
The report provides a list of churches
with holdings in U.S. corporations
operating in southern. Africa. The
holdings amount to more than $48
million in principal value of fixed
income securities, with an annual
interest income of $2.9 million.
the Spanish bishops during their general
meeting last November to analyze “the
conflicting events that affected the
Spanish Church” during 1973.
These events included demonstrations
and hunger strikes by priests at the
Zamora priests jail, which sparked a
series of occupations of Church
buildings all over the country in support
of the priests. This caused a growing
conflict between Church and state here,
but that conflict was abruptly set aside
in the wake of the assassination of
Premier Luis Carrero Blanco, the
appointed successor to Generalissimo
Francisco Franco.
In creating the committee for
reconciliation, the bishops’ commission
said that it is necessary to study the
“theological, historical and
psychological roots of the existing
divisions among the People of God in
Spain.”
The commission said it had “analyzed
last year’s events and their painful
consequences, and also two events of
the greatest importance: the
assassination of Admiral Carrero Blanco
and the appointment of a new
government headed by Carlos Arias
Navarro.”
The commission said that there is
“serene hope after the appointment of
the new cabinet” in spite of the growing
economic woes of the country.
Referring to last year’s conflicts, the
commission said: “It is wrong to reduce
or identify the Christian message with
political options, sometimes of Marxist
extraction and other times in defense of
economic interests or totalitarian
conceptions.” It also criticized all
activities that jeopardize the “unity of
the Church,” such as the publication of
slanderous writings or “actions which
constitute unacceptable pressure on the
hierarchical ministry.”
Observers here saw this as a rejection
of the shock tactics used by progressive
Church groups in their support of the
Zamora priests, which was an important
factor in the Church-state crisis.
“We are conscious of the great
responsibility we have in clarifying and
pacifying” the bishops said, adding that
“we will be open to the desire for
justice and liberty that drive many of
those who demand the recognition of
the inherent rights of persons, but on
the other hand we will be faithful to
doctrine and respectful of authority.”
“The theme of reconciliation will be
of the utmost importance to the
Spanish Bishops’ Conference this year,”
the bishops said.
ameRICM
Claim Investments
Harmful to Blacks
chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Carrying
plastic roses, Kathy Johnson, 20, Lyn Kimmel, 19, and
Jane Oliver, 19, all of Mt. St. Joseph College in
Wakefield, Rhode Island. (NC Photos by Thomas N.
Lorsung,)
MARCH FOR LIFE BEGINS ~ The National March
for Life begins in Washington, D.C., with lobbying at
the offices of congressmen and senators. In the top
photo, John Short (left) and Bill Devlin, co-chairman
of Life Lobby, Inc., talk with Francis O’Brien,
administrative aide to Cong. Peter W. Rodino,
Massive Fundraising Halted
CINCINNATI (NC) - Because it “ran
afoul of solicitation laws,” citizens for
Decency through Law (formerly
Citizens for Decent Literature) has
terminated its mass mailing fundraising
efforts and will turn again to private
donors for support, said the
organization’s founder and chairman,
Charles Keating Jr.
The CDL is a nonprofit and
anti-pornography agency which puts its
main focus on providing professional
expertise to help prosecutors win
obscenity cases.
Recently it ran into legal problems in
New York, Pennsylvania, North
Carolina and Florida as a result of a
massive direct-mail fundraising
campaign it started two years ago.
Run by a professional fundraising
company in Virginia, the mail campaign
was costing more than it was receiving
in contributions. State laws require that
charitable organizations can spend only
a reasonable amount of money for
fundraising -- usually no more than 30
to 55 percent of their receipts.
Keating said the CDL terminated its
contract with the company shortly after
New York state sought to enjoin CDL
against further fundraising in the state.
The major difficulty, he said, was that
the states that raised objections would
not accept CDL’s argument that the
mailings were largely educational and
not merely solicitations for funds.
He added that he did not think that
CDL would be hurt financially by its
return to private donations. Keating
started the group in 1956, and it was
funded without mass mailings until its
venture into that field in 1972.
“The reversal of the Supreme Court
decision last June has helped us,” he
said, referring to a series of high court
decisions last year that broadened the
definition of obscenity and gave greater
procedural latitude to the prosecution
of offenders.
Keating said that in dropping its
mass-mailing solicitation program the
CDL was in compliance with all state
guidelines for charitable organizations.
“Contributions are tax deductible in
every state,” he said.
Ways to Change Catholic Thinking To Be Explored
WASHINGTON (NC) - A task force
on population problems meeting at the
National Catholic Educational
Association (NCEA) here set up three
subcommittees to investigate areas
related to broadening consideration by
Catholics of population problems.
Catholics have tended to consider
only negative aspects of the population
problem, such as abortion and birth
control, said Sister Mary Peter Traviss,
director of education, Mission San Jose,
Calif., one of the participants in the
two-day meeting.
“Our understanding must go beyond
the issues of family size to include the
other areas emphasized by the United
Nations - those of development,
environment and human rights, both of
the individual person and of the
common good,” she said.
After discussing possible strategies to
be used to create sensitivity to the
central themes of the UN Population
Year, particularly among Catholic
educators and parents, the task force set
up three subcommittees to investigate
and made recommendations in the
following areas:
- The advocacy role of the NCEA;
- The need to establish training
sessions for Catholic educators at all
levels of instruction;
- The need to identify and organize
resource persons and materials for
classroom instruction in population
problems.
The subcommittees are to report
back to the task force on Feb. 21.
The 16-member NCEA task force,
coordinated by Sister Leo Vincent
Short, executive secretary of the NCEA
elementary department, includes:
Father Laurence T. Murphy, director of
the U.S. Catholic Conference’s Division
for Higher Education; Michael Henry, of
the Center foi Concern, an ecumenical
study center focusing on problems of
peace, justice and development; Sister
Josephine Dunne, of the U.S. bishops’
Campaign for Human Development;
Sister Elinor Ford, superintendent of
education, archdiocese of New York;
Dr. Leon Bouvier, sociology
department, University of Rhode Island;
Father C. Albert Koob, NCEA
president; and Msgr. James McHugh,
executive secretary of the Bishops’
Committee for Population and Pro-Life
Activities