A Strategic History of Americans United for Life (1971-2008)
Clarke D. Forsythe, Esq.
Senior Counsel, Americans United for Life
AUL's Founding Before Roe (1972)
Americans United for Life (AUL) is the country's oldest national pro-life organization, incorporated in August, 1971 in Washington, D.C. AUL was founded by a group of activists, including Brent Bozell of National Review, who wanted to educate Americans about abortion from a non-denominational, interdisciplinary perspective. Early board members included Catholics, Unitarians and Jews.
In a 2004 interview, Victor Rosenblum, an AUL Board Member for 35 years, recalled that he was asked to attend a meeting with Dr. Herb Ratner and Joseph Stanton to "talk about an organization that would be different from Value of Life and wouldn't be limited to physicians and would draw upon professionals of all kinds of backgrounds -- religious and non-religious -- with primacy of commitment to life. It would be set up as an educational instrumentality, making the quiet case to the public that the issue of abortion is not simply of concern to . . . Catholics."
The first chairman of the AUL Board was George Huntson Williams, a Unitarian minister who then held the Hollis Professor of Divinity Chair at Harvard Divinity School.
- In 1972, AUL sponsored research and publication of the landmark book, Abortion and Social Justice, which exemplified AUL's approach to the abortion issue.
- In 1973, AUL filed an amicus brief in Roe v. Wade by Notre Dame law Professor Charles Rice, who had published books and articles on bioethical issues during the 1960s. Other lawyers who would eventually lead AUL, like Dennis Horan, also independently filed briefs in Roe on behalf of pro-life members of ACOG.
In the aftermath of Roe, AUL was involved in a grassroots movement to write letters to the United States Supreme Court (USSC) to encourage the Court to rehear the Roe and Doe cases. Thousands of letters from across the country were sent to the USSC urging rehearing.
Between Roe (1973) and Akron/Ashcroft (Reversing Roe Conference 1984)
The genesis of the AUL Legal Defense Fund began with Dennis Horan, who pressed AUL to start a legal defense fund or public interest law firm.1 After Roe, Dennis persuaded Dr. Joseph Stanton and Professor Victor Rosenblum that such a fund -- on the order of the NAACP -- was needed to oppose the Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. Dennis outlined this need in a speech to diocesean attorneys that was published in the Catholic Lawyer in 1974.2 AUL moved to Chicago in 1975 and public interest law became the focus of AUL.
Dennis Horan's vision dominated AUL from 1975 to his untimely death on May 1, 1988. During his tenure, AUL focused on abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide in the 1970s and 1980s.
Constitutional Amendment: Stage 1
AUL was intensely involved with efforts to overturn Roe through constitutional amendment or through judicial decision between 1973 and 1983.
- In 1974, in the aftermath of the Roe decision, AUL attorneys were involved in the efforts to craft a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe. Dennis Horan articulated the case for the morality of imperfect legislation -- for doing what can be done.3
- AUL also published scholarly articles throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 1975, AUL published a landmark article in Baylor Law Review on "Euthanasia, Medical Treatment and the Mongoloid Child."
- In 1975, AUL Director and Berkeley Law Professor, David Louisell, served on the National Commission on the Protection of Human Subjects, which first addressed human embryo research. Louisell had published studies in the 1960s on bioethical issues, including organ transplantation.
"Building a Fence" Around Roe: Abortion Funding & Conscience Clauses:
It became apparent from the Roe decision in 1973 that legal "fences" had to be built around Roe. Government-forced tax-payer funding of abortion became an early issue and led AUL to become involved in abortion-funding litigation. In 1979, AUL attorneys represented U.S. Senators Buckley and Helms as intervening defendants in their landmark Hyde Amendment case, Harris v. McRae, which was litigated in federal court in New York and Chicago. AUL's Victor Rosenblum successfully argued the case before the USSC, establishing that the federal government and the states do not have to fund abortion.
Rights of Conscience:
The conscience issue was also a major emphasis immediately after Roe. Dennis Horan raised awareness of the issue at a meeting of diocesean attorneys, framing it as a right not to be involved in abortion.4 Conscience laws were enacted in 40-45 states to protect physicians from being pressured to participate in abortion. This also became an issue for public and private hospitals.
- In 1974, AUL filed briefs in the landmark case Poelker v. Doe, which establishes that public hospitals need not perform abortions.
- In 1978, AUL cosponsored a national conference on "The Psychological Aspects of Abortion," later published as a book in 1979 by University Publications of America and edited by former AUL executive director, David Mall.
- The same year, AUL launched a summer program for law students named after the late Professor David Louisell, who died in 1976.
- In 1980, AUL filed a brief in the USSC case H.L. v. Matheson, upholding parental notice of abortion.
- In 1981, AUL sponsored publication of New Perspectives on Human Abortion.
- In 1982, AUL filed briefs in three landmark USSC cases, Ashcroft, Akron and Simopoulos (decided in 1983, approving significant state regulations on abortion).
Constitutional Amendments: Stage 2
AUL was involved in Congressional hearings for a constitutional amendment from 1981-83 and showed flexibility in supporting different measures -- the Human Life Bill and a constitutional amendment. Pat Trueman and AUL worked closely with Senator Orrin Hatch. Dennis Horan and Victor Rosenblum both testified before Congress.
Euthanasia:
AUL was actively involved in the euthanasia legislation and litigation throughout the 1970s and 1980s, culminating in the Cruzan decision in 1989.
- In 1980, AUL coordinated the publication of Death, Dying and Euthanasia. AUL worked with C. Everett Koop on "The Small Beginnings of Euthanasia."
- From 1981 to 1985, AUL was involved in a series of landmark medical treatment cases in New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey involving withdrawal of food and fluids. AUL was again active in the assisted suicide cases in the Supreme Court in 1996-97, which held that there is no federal constitutional right to assisted suicide.
Infanticide:
AUL's work with infanticide was vigorous between 1975 and the Infant Doe regulations in 1985-86.
- In 1982, AUL published Infanticide and the Handicapped Newborn (based on AUL's 1980 international infanticide conference).
- In 1985, AUL was heavily involved in the Infant Doe regulations under section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act. AUL attempted to obtain the medical records of Infant Doe of Bloomington, IN through the Freedom of Information Act, but the federal courts denied the request in the Marzen v.Dept. of Health & Human Services litigation.
June 1983
June 1983 was a strategic turning point in the drive to overturn Roe.
With the Akron and Ashcroft decisions, O'Connor's dissent in June of 1983, and the vote against the Hatch-Eagleton Amendment in June 1983, support for an amendment died and momentum shifted toward reversing Roe through the courts.
Between 1975-1983, AUL focused on test case legislation in Illinois (work that preceded O'Connor's dissent in Akron & Ashcroft); those decisions spurred the Reversing Roe Conference in March, 1984.
During these years, AUL's legislative work focused on state legislation that would establish test cases, and AUL focused more on Illinois than on other states. Much of its litigation work was focused on Illinois federal cases involving Illinois legislation.
From the Reversing Roe Conference (1984) to Webster (1989)
The efforts to overturn Roe through test cases intensified after June 1983 and culminated in the Court's decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992.
- In March 1984, AUL sponsored the national conference on reversing Roe through the courts.
- In 1987, AUL published The Supreme Court and Abortion: Reversing Roe v. Wade Through the Courts by Georgetown University Press.
- In 1985-86, AUL was heavily involved in the Kendrick litigation, which culminated in the Bowen v. Kendrick decision by the Supreme Court.
- AUL Chairman Dennis J. Horan died unexpectedly on May 1, 1988. Horan had an enormous influence on legal change on sanctity of life issues during the 1970s and 1980s.5
- In 1988-1989, AUL worked with the Missouri Attorney General's office and organized briefing in landmark USSC Webster decision, which cut back on Roe v. Wade and supported the belief that the Court might overturn Roe entirely.
From Webster (1989) to Casey (1992)
In the wake of Webster, AUL moved to expand its legislative efforts beyond Illinois.
- In November 1989, AUL sponsored its first Legislators Educational Conference (LEC) to educate state legislators nationwide on pro-life public policy. Over 100 legislators attended in Chicago.
- In 1990, AUL sponsored a Gallup Poll on abortion, "Abortion and Moral Beliefs," the most comprehensive survey ever conducted of American attitudes toward abortion, subsequently analyzed in James Davison Hunter's book, Before the Shooting Begins.
- In 1991, AUL quantitative research analyst, James Rogers, Ph.D., published a landmark article in the prestigious American Journal of Public Health revealing the positive impact of Minnesota's parental notice law on teenage pregnancy and abortion rates, which were presented to the Court in the Hodgson decision which upheld Minnesota's parental notice law.
- In 1992, AUL resident scholar, Marvin Olasky, Ph.D., published Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America.
- In 1992, AUL's work in Planned Parenthood v. Casey was instrumental in the USSC's curbing of Roe by approving state informed consent laws for the first time.
- In 1993, AUL published the first comprehensive legal critique of the Casey decision.
The Clinton Years: From Casey (1992) to Carhart (2000)
AUL focused on state legislation and the expansion of state regulation of abortion between 1992 and 2000, between Casey and Carhart.
- Between 1993 and 1995, AUL worked with more than one-third of state attorneys general nationwide on pro-life litigation.
- In 1994, AUL led the briefing strategy in three state and federal cases to defeat the constitutional "right" to assisted suicide.
- In 1995, in the wake of pro-life victories from the November 1994 elections, AUL provided legislative counsel and support to 43 states and Puerto Rico.
- In 1995, AUL worked to prevent an FDA rubber stamping of the abortion pill RU-486 by filing Citizen Petition on behalf of Members of Congress. The petition detailed likely dangers of RU-486 to women and their subsequent live children.
- In 1995 and 1996, AUL worked to include information on the abortion-breast cancer (ABC) link in state laws covering informed consent for abortion.
- Between 1997 and 2000, AUL worked with more than two-thirds of state attorneys general nationwide on state partial-birth abortion litigation.
- In 2000, AUL assisted with the briefing strategy and filed briefs in USSC case Stenber v. Carhart, in which the Court struck down the laws on partial-birth abortion in Nebraska and 29 other states.
The Bush Years: After Carhart (2000-2007)
By 2000, AUL had published 14 types of model legislation for the states.
In 2000, AUL began to represent Arizona district attorneys in defense of the state's abortion clinic regulations, enacted in 1999 following a highly publicized abortion-related death of a 32-year-old mother at the hands of an abortionist (who was later criminally convicted). AUL began to expand its work with several legislatures and attorneys general in this developing area of law for the first time since 1988.
In 2003, AUL developed the first-ever "AUL State Report Cards," released early in 2004, which rate each state in terms of safety -- or danger -- for pregnant mothers and their unborn children.
In 2006, AUL expanded the State Report Cards into an annual nonpartisan guide with the publication of Defending Life. The state-by-state legal guide includes the AUL State Report Cards, model legislation, and expert analysis.
In 2006, AUL launched its State Supreme Court Project, an in-depth look at state supreme courts' treatment of life issues and an examination of judicial restraint and/or activism at the state level.
The Negative Impact of Abortion on Women:
- In November 2002 and January 2003, AUL cosponsored three symposia on the impact of abortion on women to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and focus public attention on the negative impact of abortion on women.
- In 2004, AUL published The Cost of "Choice:" Women Evaluate Abortion's Impact, a 30-year retrospective from AUL's national symposia.
Bioethics:
- In 2001, AUL began to invest more resources in the issues of biotechnology by developing model legislation for states to ban human cloning and destructive human embryo research.
- In 2004, AUL launched a new Project in Law and Bioethics to focus resources on policy initiatives and publications on bioethical issues.
Rights of Conscience:
- In 2001, AUL began to reemphasize a nationwide effort in state legislation on healthcare rights of conscience to protect pro-life doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and medical students from employment discrimination.
- In 2002, AUL continued to spearhead international efforts protecting the rights of conscience of pro-life medical professionals against the encroachments of abortion advocates. AUL led the legal defense of abortion clinic regulations in Arizona, helping develop a legal strategy for giving states the option of using federal money to fund abortion alternatives.
Post-Gonzales Strategy (2007-present)
The USSC's Gonzales v. Carhart decision in 2007 paved the way for greater regulation of abortion at the state level, as well as intensified pro-abortion threats.
By 2008, AUL had published or drafted 25 types of model legislation for the states.
In 2008, AUL launched a rapid-response distribution system to assist legislators and policy groups. The distribution system provides in-demand resources such as written legislative testimony, detailed information about pro-life laws in all 50 states, information about potential legal and medical experts available to testify before legislative committees, media talking points, and other resources such polling data, journal articles, and copies of pertinent news stories.
International Involvement:
In 2007, officials in Mexico City changed the law to allow abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, prompting a lawsuit before the Mexico Supreme Court regarding the change. In spring 2008, AUL filed a brief arguing that abortion poses drastic short- and long-term health risks for women. The brief focused on both physical and psychological health risks, demonstrating that abortion harms women and should remain illegal in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Endnotes
1. Dennis J. Horan, "Abortion and the Conscience Clause: Current Status," 20 Catholic Lawyer 289 (1974).
2. Id. at 293.
3. Id. at 294-95 ("I am not a believer in legislation that is an outright disavowal of the court, as we witnessed in the Rhode Island case. I am a believer in attempting to achieve the maximum possible with legislation, e.g., even if the statute complies with Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton there is no reason it cannot contain a preamble which states that the unborn child is a human person from conception, that the statute is passed of necessity, allowing abortions only because of those cases, but that in all other areas of the law the unborn child shall be treated as a person.")
4. Id.
5. See e.g., Horan & Grant, "Prolonging Life and Withdrawing Treatment: Legal Issues," 50 Linacre Q. 153 (1983); Dennis J. Horan, "Euthanasia as a Form of Medical Management," in Death, Dying & Euthanasia (2d ed. 1980); Dennis J. Horan, "Euthanasia and Brain Death: Ethical and Legal Considerations," 315 Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci. 363 (1978); Dennis Horan & Thomas Marzen, "Death with Dignity and the Living Will: A Commentary on Legislative Development," 5 J. Legis. 81 (1978).
