Anti abortion movement in post roe v wade louisiana, a qualitative study

ANTI-ABORTION MOVEMENT IN POST-ROE v. WADE LOUISIANA: A
QUALITATIVE STUDY

-----------------------------------

A DISSERTATION
Presented to
The Faculty of the Graduate School
Southern University and A&M College
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

-----------------------------------

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirement for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
The Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

----------------------------------By
Emmanuel Okwaraocha
December 2010


UMI Number: 3445348

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DEDICATION
To the benevolent triune God

ii


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I appreciate the ingenuous advice of my major professor, Dr. James Larson,
which saw me through in the course of this doctoral research. Dr. Larson has always
wanted me to succeed in the program, and what you are holding in your hands or reading
with your eyes is a testament to that success. I thank other members of the dissertation
committee, Dr. Hassan Mahadallah and Dr. Christopher Hunte, for their assistance. The
encouragement of the faculty adviser for the doctoral program in the Nelson Mandela
School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Dr. Huey L. Perry, is commendable. Dr. Perry
has always been on my side since my Master‟s degree program in the School.
My parents, Nnaomadiebube Stephen Okwaraocha and Ezinne Josephine

Okwaraocha (nee Ugbala), were highly elated at the news of my successful defense of
this doctoral dissertation. I glory in their joy. I love them. My siblings have always shown
me love. I appreciate their best wishes for me. I love them too. Chinenye, fondly called
Bim-Bim and Chipem remains my best cousin.
Mrs. Dolores Broussard, Mrs. Gloria Meaux, Mr. Travis & Mrs. Andree Stevens,
Attorney Donald & Attorney Mrs. Chigo Iwuchukwu, Dr. & Dr. Mrs. Jack Gupta have
always been good to me. May it be well with them, and their families. I appreciate the
encouragement of some of my colleagues in the priesthood, Donatus Ajoko, Denis
Ekwugha, Brendan Mbagwu, Celsius Offor, Paul Onuegbe, Onyedika Otuwurunne,
Amaechi Awurum, Vitalis Abiamiri, Stephen Ugwu, Toochukwu Okpara, Capt. Thom
Obiatuegwu, Capt. John Ijeomah, Dr. John Uche Asomugha, CSSp., Dr. Wenceslaus
Madu, CMF, and others. I also appreciate the friendship of my colleagues in the doctoral
iii


program especially, Ms. Ngozi Anadi, Mrs. Karen Emery, and Ms. Tiffany M. Lloyd.
May God grant their hearts‟ desires.
My sincere gratitude goes to all men and women of goodwill in the Louisiana
Right to Life movement especially, those I interviewed during my field work. I thank Mr.
Ben Clapper, Mrs. Peggy Kenny, Retired Attorney Bob E. Winn, Dr. W. Al Krotoski,
Attorney Dorinda C. Bordlee, Mrs. Barbara Thomas, and Attorney Angie Thomas for
their friendship.
Finally, I acknowledge that I am the greatest beneficiary of God‟s favors, and I
cannot thank Him enough. All is to His greater glory (A.M.D.G).

iv


TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER

PAGE

I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1
Statement of Problem ...............................................................................................1
The Purpose of the Study .........................................................................................6
The Importance of the Study....................................................................................7
Research Questions ..................................................................................................7
Delimitations ............................................................................................................8
Limitations ...............................................................................................................8
Organization of the Study ........................................................................................9
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................................................12
The Dynamics of the Anti-Abortion Movement ....................................................13
Abortion Restrictions in the Pre-Roe v. Wade Era .................................................13
Mobilization and Organization in the Post-Roe v. Wade Decision ........................17
Background ................................................................................................17
Organization and Countermobilization ......................................................20
The Movement‟s Strategies and Tactics ....................................................23
Issue-framing Strategy ...................................................................23
Political Strategy ............................................................................24
v


Legislative Strategy .......................................................................26
Violent Strategy and Tactic ...........................................................28
Abortion Policy in Post-Roe v. Wade Decision ....................................................29
The Leeway to State Abortion Policy ..................................................................31

State Abortion Policy ...........................................................................................33
Woman-Related Abortion Policy...............................................................35
Fetus-Related Abortion Policy...................................................................36
Provider-Related Abortion Policy..............................................................37
III.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .........................................................................39
Deontological Ethical Theory ....................................................................39
Social Movement Theory...........................................................................42

IV.

METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................49
Research Design.........................................................................................49
Data Collection ..........................................................................................50
Instrumentation ..........................................................................................53
Data Analysis and Interpretation ...............................................................54
Research Validity .......................................................................................56

V.

FINDINGS .............................................................................................................58
Participant‟s Profile ...................................................................................58
Description of the Louisiana Right to Life Federation ..............................62
Research Question One ..............................................................................64
Emergent Theme: The Quest for Change ..................................................64
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Research Question Two .............................................................................72

Emergent Theme: Abortion as Murder that Negates the Sanctity of Human
Life ............................................................................................................ 72
Research Question Three ...........................................................................77
Emergent Theme: Restrictive Abortion Policy ..........................................77
Research Question Four .............................................................................86
Emergent Theme: An Alternative to Abortion ..........................................86
Research Question Five .............................................................................90
Emergent Theme: Voluntarism ..................................................................90
VI.

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH........................................95
Summary ....................................................................................................95
Conclusions ................................................................................................97
Research Implications ................................................................................98
Public Policy Implications .........................................................................99
Recommendations for Future Research ...................................................100

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................103
APPENDICES .................................................................................................................112
Appendix A Interview Guide ...............................................................................113
Appendix B Interview Participants ......................................................................116
Appendix C Louisiana Candidate Questionnaire .................................................119
Appendix D A Letter of Request to Participate in an Interview for Study ..........123
vii


Appendix E Informed Consent Form ...................................................................125
Appendix F Initial Approval Form for Non-Exempt Research ...........................128
VITA .................................................................................................................................. xi

APPROVAL FOR SCHOLARLY DISSEMINATION .................................................. xiv

viii


ABSTRACT
Okwaraocha Emmanuel, Ph.D.
Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs
Southern University and A & M College Baton Rouge, Louisiana
December, 2010.
ANTI-ABORTION MOVEMENT IN POST-ROE v. WADE LOUISIANA: A
QUALITATIVE STUDY
Major Professor: Dr. James S. Larson.
The 1973 Supreme Court landmark decision in Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in
the United States, triggering an unprecedented controversy over the morality and legality
of abortion. In turn, the decision caused the development of well-organized anti-abortion
movements that consistently protest the abortion policy. The controversial extent of the
extant nature of legal abortion policy is evidenced by ubiquitous anti-abortion
movements in most states in the nation, including Louisiana.
This research employs a qualitative method of inquiry to study the leadership,
organization, and the propelling ideology of the Louisiana Right to Life (LARTL)
movement in the State of Louisiana. The study also investigates the pro-life movement in
terms of strategies, influence, activities, and public policy implications in the State of
Louisiana. Findings are drawn from a triangulation of documentary information and data,
data from interviews and archival records. By means of an open-ended interview of the
executive level leadership of the LARTL movement, various directors of crisis pregnancy
centers and church leaders in Louisiana findings indicate that the movement has
successfully influenced certain pro-life policies that not only regulate abortion but also
offer more material options to women seeking abortion in Louisiana. Some of the

ix


restrictive abortion policies the LARTL movement has influenced in the State of
Louisiana are inclusive of the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act of 2010, the Ultrasound
Before Abortion Act of 2010, the Human Life Protection Act (Trigger Law) of 2006, the
Women‟s Right to Know of 1995, and others.
Key Words: anti-abortion movement; pro-life movement; right-to-life movement;
abortion policy; restrictive abortion policy; roe v. wade, qualitative study; social
movement theory; deontological ethical theory.

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Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
Statement of Problem
The historic 1973 Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113) Supreme Court decision that
legalized abortion in the United States sparked an unprecedented controversy over the
morality and legality of abortion, and thus gave rise to anti-abortion movements that
consistently protest the controversial abortion policy. The basis for the Court‟s decision
was the constitutional provision concerning the right to privacy (Hansen, 1980 and
Rodman, 1991), which allowed a woman access to abortion during the first trimester of
her pregnancy. The Supreme Court asserts, “This right to privacy whether it be founded
in the Fourth Amendment‟s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action,
as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment‟s
reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman‟s decision
whether or not to terminate pregnancy” (Roe v. Wade, 1973). Yet, the right to privacy
holding on which legal abortion is hinged, is not explicitly enshrined in the U.S.
Constitution.

The controversial nature of the Roe decision is evidenced in the existence of antiabortion movements that literally dot the length and breadth of almost every state in the
nation. The State of Louisiana is no exception to this development, as there are currently
active anti-abortion movements in the area that strategically aim at advancing restrictive
abortion policies in the State, even to an overturn of the Roe decision.


2

Despite the saliency of the abortion issue and its contentious nature in the polity,
there is a dearth of qualitative research to examine the numerous oppositional
organizations against legal abortion in the various states of the Union. This work is aimed
at studying the strategic activities of the anti-abortion movement in the State of
Louisiana, the Louisiana Right to Life Federation (LARTL). My focus on Louisiana is
not only informed by the state‟s restrictive laws on legal abortion but also by the quest to
ascertain the leadership and organization, as well as the propelling belief or ideology of
the anti-abortion movement in the state. The pro-life movement also protests the Supreme
Court‟s alleged usurpation of the authority which the United States federal system
reserves to states through the Tenth Amendment on morality policy inclusive of abortion.
This work is a study of the developments and strategies of the Louisiana Right to
Life Federation in the state, the political implications of the pro-life movement as a
“countermovement” to the pro-choice movement, and the public policy implications
emanating from the successes and advances of Louisiana‟s anti-abortion movement
regarding its pro-life activities. Contextually, it is noteworthy that the terms, anti-abortion
movement, right-to-life movement, pro-life movement, and the like nuances are
interchangeably used in this study to denote “a countermovement,” to pro-abortion or a
pro-choice movement. Also, both pro-life or anti-abortion and pro-choice or pro-abortion
movements are opposing social movements and each is an interest group.
Although the Supreme Court legalized abortion via the Roe decision, its
subsequent decision in the 1989 Webster v. Missouri Reproductive Health Services
opened a window for the state legislatures to layer many regulations and restrictions on

3

abortion (Jelen, 1992b, Tribe, 1990 and Dodson and Burnbauer, 1990). The Webster
ruling held that any “reasonably designed” (Webster, 109 S. Ct. 3058) abortion restriction
by any state that “permissibly furthers the state‟s interest in protecting human life”
(Webster, 109 S. Ct 3057) would be constitutionally legal (McCarthy, 1989). Another
decision by the Supreme Court allowed the State of Pennsylvania to impose restrictions
on legal abortion in the Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey
(1992). The ruling prompted other states, including Louisiana to enact restrictive abortion
laws (Cook, Jelen and Wilcox, 1993 and Borgman and Weiss, 2003).
The Webster and Casey decisions caused varying reactions across the nation some
states passed moderate restrictions on abortion while other states affirmed existing laws
on abortion via individual state legislations, while “Louisiana and Utah enacted
restrictions that would ban most abortions” (Cook, Jelen and Wilcox, 1993, p. 223). With
regard to the Roe decision which legalized abortion, Farber and Nowak (1990), believe
that irrespective of the vehement nature of the perennial debate on the abortion issue, the
American public embraces the notion that states have a valid interest in the protection of
women‟s health and fetuses, and as a result, abortion may not be banned completely.
Furthermore, it is pertinent to note that since the 1973 Roe decision legalizing
abortion, the State of Louisiana has advanced abortion legislation that regulates and
restricts a woman‟s access to abortion (Guttmacher Institute, 2010). Some of the State‟s
regulations include:


4

gestational limitation – the state of Louisiana prohibits abortion after fetal
viability except in the case of a woman‟s life or health;

prohibition on a partial-birth abortion;
the state not only requires an abortion be performed by a licensed physician, but
also mandates that a second physician be involved in the service after fetal
viability;
public funding – public funding for abortion is limited to life endangerment, rape,
and incest;
private insurance coverage – coverage of abortion in private insurance plans is
restricted to cases that pertain to life endangerment and;
parental involvement – the state requires the consent of one or both of the parents
of a minor before an abortion is performed (Guttmacher Institute, 2010);
Women‟s Right to Know law of 1995 – the State of Louisiana mandates that a
woman seeking to obtain abortion must wait 24 hours in between the time she
makes her first visit to the abortion facility and the actual abortion procedure. The
law also provides that the woman who is about to obtain an abortion must be
informed about the abortion procedure, gestational age of the fetus, fetal
development, the risks of abortion and the availability of other public assistance
agencies that offer abortion alternative if she decides to carry the pregnancy to
term;


5

the Ultrasound Before Abortion Act of 2010 – an amendment to the abortion
informed consent law, which gives a woman the right to have medically accurate
information about her health and the life of her child. Also, the Ultrasound Act
avails the woman the opportunity to receive the information about the ultrasound
and see the ultrasound;
the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act of 2010 – the Act legally excludes the State
of Louisiana from the federally subsidized abortion insurance plans as contained
in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 that was signed into

law by President Barack Obama in March 23, 2010 and;
the Human Life Protection Act of 2006, also known as Trigger Law. This law
makes abortion illegal in the State of Louisiana, except in the case of life
endangerment of the mother, when the Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme
Court or by a Constitutional Amendment (Louisiana Right to Life Federation,
2010).
The pro-life or anti-abortion movement in Louisiana as aforementioned is
championed by the Louisiana Right to Life Federation with organized chapters in the
various parishes or counties in the state, Louisiana Students for Life which also has
organized chapters in college and university campuses, and the church clergy. The
explicit religious connotations of the abortion controversy necessitated an inclusion of the
views of church leaders in the study. Moreover, on the issue of abortion, leaders in the


6

church are influential as opinion and political leaders (Ammerman, 1987 and Jelen,
1992b).
As aforementioned, this work also investigates whether or not the Louisiana Right
to Life movement influenced the state‟s restrictive abortion policies as well as successes
of the movement to advance its pro-life goals. It is certain that the anti-abortion
movement in Louisiana influences abortion policy in the State through employment of
salient strategies toward advancing its goals that characterize other social movements.
Strategies which include issue-framing, educational, legislative, and political concerns
are elaborately discussed in Chapters Five and Six of this work. However, the unique
effectiveness of the pro-life movement is also enhanced by the common belief of the
Louisiana citizenry in the sanctity of the human life, revering God as the only One who
has the authority to give or take life.
Finally, Lo (1982) acknowledges the merit in studying public opinion on the
abortion issue, but he also fervently enjoins researchers to also engage in studying the

leadership, organization, and participants of the anti-abortion movements. Suffice it to
say that this project literally serves as a response to Lo‟s (1982) scholarly call.
The Purpose of the Study
The raison d’etre for this research is to study the leadership, organization,
propelling belief or ideology, and the strategic activities of the Louisiana Right to Life
(LARTL) movement in the State of Louisiana. The study is also aimed at ascertaining
whether the pro-life movement has influenced any anti-abortion or restrictive abortion


7

policies in Louisiana and the public policy implications of its successful advances of the
movement in the state, regarding pro-life activities.
The Importance of the Study
The significance of this work is composed of two strands: first, this endeavor
pioneers a qualitative, research work on the anti-abortion movement in Louisiana.
Although much literature discusses public opinion on the controversial issue of abortion,
there is a dearth of literature that dealing with the leadership, organization, and
participants of the right-to-life movement, and no work may be found on the dynamics of
the movement in Louisiana.
Second, pro-life movement study adds to the preceding extant theoretical works
that research the dynamics of social movement and countermovement. Scholars of social
movement observed that although the civil rights movement of the 1960s in the United
States caused an emergence of studies on models of the political process and
mobilization, it was the pro-choice and pro-life movement that were responsible for
scholarly interest in movement and countermovement dynamics. This research then
serves as a contribution to the social movement scholarship.
Research Questions
Under the backdrop of this investigation of the anti-abortion movement in
Louisiana since the Supreme Court‟s decision in Roe v. Wade, the following questions

are addressed in this research:
1. What are the goals of the Louisiana Right to Life Federation in the State of
Louisiana, and what strategies does it employ to advance those goals?


8

2. What is the underlying belief or ideology that drives the pro-life movement?
3.

How effective are the strategies of the pro-life movement and what successes
has it achieved in Louisiana, regarding its pro-life goals and activities?

4. What are the sources of support for the Louisiana Right to Life Federation,
and who funds the movement?
5. Has the pro-life movement in Louisiana influenced any anti-abortion or
restrictive abortion policies in the State?
Delimitations
The researcher recognizes the existence of many pro-life organizations that
compose the anti-abortion movement in the United States as evidenced in the reviewed
extant literature. Therefore this research focuses on studying the activities of the antiabortion movement by the Louisiana Right to Life Federation (LARTL), in the State of
Louisiana. Also, this study is limited to an open-ended interviewing of the leading
members of the Louisiana Right to Life Federation, directors of pro-life pregnancy
centers, and church leaders in the State. The Louisiana Right to Life Federation is the
mainstream pro-life movement in the State of Louisiana.
Limitations
The primary limitations of this study stem from the nature of the research method
employed in the study, which is a qualitative research method. A qualitative investigation
is essentially subjective. The process of data collection and analysis in a case study
employing a face-to-face, open-ended interview is virtually the sole responsibility of the

researcher. Hence, the researcher directs the final product of the study.


9

Further, research method scholars contend that interpretation is a major part of all
research especially, a qualitative method of inquiry (Stake, 1995, Ericson, 1986, Yin,
1994 and Creswell, 2003). Scholars also emphasize the saliency of “making meaning”
from the responses of an interviewee (Stake, 1995 and Creswell, 2003), as applied in
open-ended interview methods of data collection. Evidently, personal interpretations are
subjective, and meanings could be either misunderstood or misinterpreted.
Another limitation of a qualitative case study of this nature is that it becomes
particularistic and thereby, presents a little basis for generalization (Stake, 1995). Thus,
the findings in this case study are unique to the context and may not be generalized.
Finally, the concept that a qualitative researcher becomes the measurement
instrument in a qualitative study (Patton, 2002 and Merriam 1998) brings to the fore an
inherent human negative prejudice or bias. A possible bias on my part as a pro-life
advocate researching an anti-abortion movement surely constitutes a limitation in this
study. By way of minimizing such a personal bias, however, I never disclosed my
ideological stance on the abortion issue to the interview respondents, in the course of the
open-ended interview.
Organization of the Study
This research work is organized into six chapters. Chapter One introduces the
study by highlighting the background and stating the problem. Also, the purpose and
significance of the study is presented in Chapter One. The research questions,
delimitations, and limitations of the study and a logical organization of the work are also
presented in the introductory section. A review of the numerous literatures on the subject


10

is found in Chapter Two. This chapter discusses themes and sub-themes on the subject.
These themes include the dynamics of the anti-abortion movement:
abortion restrictions in the pre-Roe v. Wade era
the movement‟s mobilization and organization in the post-Roe v. Wade
decision –(a) background, (b) organization and countermobilization,
the movement‟s strategies and tactics –(a) issue-framing strategy, (b)
political strategy, (c) legislative strategy, and (d) violent strategy and
tactics,
abortion policy in post-Roe v. Wade,
the leeway to state abortion policy,
state abortion policy –(a) woman-related abortion policy, (b) fetus-related
abortion policy, and (c) provider-related abortion policy.
The theoretical framework of the study is presented in Chapter Three. This
chapter discusses two main theories guiding the study. These theories involve the
deontological theory and, the social movement theory. Contextually, the use of a multiple
theory as a framework for the study of this nature is informed by Blanchard‟s (1994, p. 8)
idea that “no single theory is sufficient enough to explain the complexities of any social
movement.” The discussion of the methodology of the study is addressed in Chapter
Four. This chapter discusses on the research design, the qualitative research method of
the study, the method of data collection and analysis, the measurement instrument, and
research validity. Finally, while Chapter Five presents the findings of the study, the


11

general summary, research and public policy implications for the study, conclusions, and
recommendations for future research are presented in Chapter Six.

Chapter II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter presents comprehensive review of extant literature covering relevant
themes in the study. Those themes, dealing with the dynamics of abortion policy and the
anti-abortion movement include:
abortion restrictions in the pre-Roe v. Wade era
the movement‟s mobilization and organization in the post-Roe v. Wade
decision, incorporating
a.

background

b.

organization and countermobilization
the movement‟s strategies and tactics comprising

a.

issue-framing strategy

b.

political strategy

c.

legislative strategy

d.

violent strategy and tactic
the dynamics of abortion policy in the post-Roe v. Wade decision
the leeway to state abortion policy
state abortion policy, defining

a.

woman-related abortion policy

b.

fetus-related abortion policy

c.

provider-related abortion policy


13

The Dynamics of the Anti-abortion Movement
Abortion Restrictions in the Pre-Roe v. Wade Era
Considerable literature examines the development of the abortion regulations and
related anti-abortion campaigns before the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that
legalized abortion (Blanchard, 1994, Means, 1970, Petchesky, 1984, Cavanaugh, 1986
and Mohr, 1978). Between the First and Fourth Centuries, notable early Church Fathers
such as Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Augustine of Hippo, and others denounced the
procurement of abortion in the foremost ancient document of the Church, the Didache,
which in the Greek means “The Teaching” (Blanchard, 1994). However, the Church

allowed the practice of abortion between 450 and 1450 “only before quickening”
(Blanchard, 1994, p. 11). The concept of quickening denotes when a woman felt
movements from the embryo or fetus which was “usually about [the] fifth month of
pregnancy” (Blanchard, 1994, p. 10). However, between 1450 and 1750, the Church not
only allowed abortion before quickening, but also after quickening in cases of life
endangerment of the woman (Blanchard, 1994).
Further, Blanchard (1994) maintains that the stance of the Church on abortion
with regard to the idea of quickening usually coincided with that of the Common Law in
the latter part of the era. Still, it is pertinent to note that in 1869, the Church banned the
practice of abortion by declaring excommunication to be a punishment for the act; latter
in 1917, the Church extended the same punishment to include the woman (Blanchard,
1994). It is also noteworthy that from 1931 until the present, the Church maintained a
strict stance of allowing no abortions under any circumstance.