This Month in History

• January 1974:First Annual March for Life in Washington, DC
• January 22, 1973: The U.S. Supreme Court issues its landmark rulings (Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton) which together create a new constitutional right to abortion, under the guise of “privacy”.  In its stunning assault on human life and legal traditions regarding the protection of preborn children, seven members of the Court, led by Justice Harry Blackmun, relied heavily upon a previous Court ruling (Griswold v. Connecticut) dealing with a right to contraceptives.
• While Blackmun went to great lengths to concoct a 3-trimester system of regulating abortion (a strategy called “judicial legislation” by Justice William Rhenquist), the holdings of Doe v. Bolton regarding “health exceptions” created a practical right to abortion throughout the entire pregnancy.
• January 22, 1975: The first national “March for Life” is held in Washington, D.C. to protest the imposition of legalized killing of America’s preborn children.  An estimated 25,000 people attend.
• January 13, 1977: In confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate, HEW nominee Joseph Califano promises to work to restrict or even bar abortions under all federal health programs, including Medicaid.  (A promise yet to be fulfilled).
• January 9, 1979: The Supreme Court strikes down a Pennsylvania law requiring doctors to use the abortion method most likely to save the life of a preborn child who might be viable.  The legal pontiffs declare the law to be “vague” and an infringement upon the professional judgment of abortionists.
• January 30, 1984: In a speech renewing his call for a national constitutional amendment to end abortion, President Ronald Reagan compared the pro-Life movement with the struggle to end slavery.
• January 9, 1996: Idaho Chooses Life is registered as a political action committee with the State of Idaho.

• 1911: Ronald Reagan, America’s first pro-Life president, born.
• February 15, 1975: Boston abortionist Kenneth Edelin is convicted of manslaughter for killing a baby he had kept alive after an abortion.  He was using the baby for medical experiments.
• February 6, 1985: U.S. Aid administrator Peter McPherson suspends payment of $23 million to the UN Fund for Population Activities because of concerns that the money might be used to help finance communist China’s forced abortions program.
• February 22, 2000: Governor Dirk Kempthorne signs SB1299 into law, providing for Parental Consent to all teenage abortions – except in cases where the girl goes to court to obtain a “judicial bypass”.

• March 24, 1968: The American Civil Liberties Union issues a call for the abolition of all laws that impose criminal penalties for abortion, regardless of the reason.
• March 30, 1968: Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller endorses a proposal to liberalize the abortion laws of New York.
• March 31, 1973: U.S. Senator James Buckley (R-NY) and six co-sponsors introduce a constitutional amendment in response to the Roe v. Wade edict of the Supreme Court the year before. It would ban all abortions except those necessary to save a mother’s life. It dies in Senate subcommittee.
• March 23, 1981: The Supreme Court decides that a state may require abortionists to notify parents before performing an abortion on their daughter. H.L. v. Matheson upholds a Utah statute.
• March 10, 1982: The Senate Judiciary Committee approves the Hatch Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It would ban abortions except to save a mother’s life. Hatch withdraws the amendment later that year after a filibuster of pro-Life legislation proposed by Sen. Jesse Helms.
• March 11, 1970: Hawaii becomes the first state in the union to legalize abortion.
• March 12, 1985: Planned Parenthood produces a study showing that American teenagers become pregnant, give birth, and have abortions at rates much higher than girls in other industrialized nations.
• March 18, 1998: Planned Parenthood of Idaho files a federal lawsuit against the State of Idaho to stop the newly enacted Ban on Partial Birth Abortions from taking effect. The case is sent to Federal District Judge B. Lynn Winmill. He strikes down the law later that year.
• March 26, 1998: HB610 (Parental Consent) finally passes Idaho Legislature. Four days later, Republican Governor Phil Batt vetoes the bill, leaving Idaho’s daughters without any protections from the Abortion Industry.
• March 27, 2002: SB 1344 (Noah’s Law) signed into law by Governor Kempthorne. This legislation provides for the criminal prosecution of any third party who injures or kills a preborn child. The legislation came in response to the tragic beating death of little Noah Smith in Nampa.

• April 12, 1967: Planned Parenthood International releases a report claiming that between 15 and 20 million abortions are performed worldwide each year.
• April 25, 1967: Colorado becomes the first state to liberalize its abortion laws.  Under legislation signed by Republican Governor John Love, Colorado permits abortions when the either the preborn child or mother would suffer permanent mental or physical disability, or in cases of rape or incest.  (The new law required the agreement of 3 doctors).
• April 11, 1970: New York Republican Nelson Rockefeller signs into law legislation which repeals the state’s 1830 law banning abortion.  All abortions become legal before the 24th week.  This followed four years of lobbying by NARAL, Planned Parenthood and others.
• April 3, 1971: Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller orders interim payment of Medicaid abortions in cases where the mother’s health is endangered.
• April 21, 1971: The United States Supreme Court issues its first major abortion decision when it upholds a Washington, D.C. statute barring doctors from performing abortions except when the mother’s life or health is at stake.  (U.S. v. Vuitch).
• April 17, 1973: The National Institutes of Health announces a ban on research involving live aborted human fetuses.  The ruling is aimed at stopping researchers’ practice of keeping aborted babies alive for several hours under laboratory conditions in order to conduct experiments.
• April 14, 1975: The U.S. Civil Rights Commission announces its opposition to a constitutional amendment introduced by Senators Buckley and Helms that would sharply limit abortion following the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.
• April 28, 1976: The U. S. Senate defeats the Helms/Buckley amendment to the U.S. Constitution which would guarantee preborn children a right to life.
• April 9, 1989: An estimated 300,000 abortion supporters march in Washington, D.C. following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to accept the Webster case from Missouri.  The U.S. Justice Department, under President Bush, argues that the case offers the high court an appropriate opportunity to overturn Roe.

• May 13, 1972: New York Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller vetoes the Legislature’s attempt to repeal the state’s liberalized abortion laws of 1970.
• May 20, 1974: The pro-choice Women’s Lobby files a federal suit against the U.S. Catholic Conference, charging that the Catholic organization is violating its tax-exempt status through its national campaign to reinstate legal protections for preborn children.  The suit is dismissed.  The judge finds that the Lobby failed to establish that the primary purpose of the Catholic Conference is to influence legislation.
• May 24, 1977: The U.S. Senate defeats a resolution calling for a constitutional convention to create a specific recognition of a preborn child’s right to life.
• May 18, 1978: Italy legalizes all abortions during the First Trimester.
• May 18, 1981: Italian voters reject a referendum designed to repeal the nation’s liberalized abortion law.
• May 11, 1983: Catholic Sister Agnes Mary Mansour, director of Michigan’s welfare agency responsible for funding abortions, renounces her religious vows – rather than risk expulsion by the Vatican.
• May 2, 2003: The Joint Finance & Appropriations Committee of the Idaho Legislature defeated a motion to keep Title X money away from Planned Parenthood of Idaho.  The motion, made Senators Brent Hill and Mel Richardson, was defeated on a 10-10 vote.  All four committee Democrats voted to protect Planned Parenthood’s money, as well as 6 Republicans.

• June 23, 2000: Planned Parenthood of Idaho files a federal lawsuit against the State of Idaho to block enforcement of the newly-enacted Parental Consent Law.
• Ronald Reagan, author of Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation, dies.

• July 7, 2000: Federal Magistrate Mikel Williams grants Planned Parenthood of Idaho its request for a Temporary Restraining Order in their lawsuit to stop Idaho’s new Parental Consent Law.

• 1759:William Wilberforce, Christian and British statesman, born in 1759. Advocated for the outlawing of slavery and legal protections for the human person.
• 1970:Zero Population Growth sets up a national, computerized abortion referral service.
• 1993:Radical pro-abort justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court
• 2001:President George W. Bush issues an Executive Order limiting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research to existing cell lines.
• 2002:Southern Medical Journal publishes a study finding that post-abortive women have a higher mortality rate than women who do not have an abortion history.
• 2002:Born Alive Infants Protection Act signed into law by President Bush
• 2010:Pro-abort justice Elena Kagan appointed to the Supreme Court by Barack Obama

• September 4, 1972:    Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern reiterates his position on abortion, saying the issue should remain a matter for state regulation.
• September 5, 1974:    Republican President Gerald Ford says in TV news conference that the federal Congress should not be involved in abortion legislation.  He pledges his support for a constitutional amendment that would make the issue a matter of states’ rights.
• September 17, 1975:  A Senate Judiciary subcommittee rejects all efforts to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.  The subcommittee move ends the abortion debate for the current legislative term.
• September 17, 1976:  The U.S Congress approves the Hyde Amendment, barring the use of federal Medicaid funds to pay for abortions except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk.  The Amendment is attached as a rider to the Health & Welfare appropriations bill, subsequently vetoed by President Gerald Ford.
• September 30, 1976:  Congress overrides the Ford Veto of the funding bill for Health & Welfare.  The Hyde Amendment becomes federal law.
• September 21, 1980:  Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan and independent candidate John Anderson sharply disagree on the abortion issue during a televised debate.  Reagan supports a constitutional ban on abortion.  Anderson says such an amendment would threaten a woman’s “freedom of choice”.
• September 9, 1981:    Regan nominee Sandra Day O’Connor testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during confirmation hearings.  She says abortion is a legitimate area of legislative action.
• September 15, 1982:  The U.S. Senate votes 47 to 46 to block a measure sponsored by Sen. Jesse Helms that would impose severe restrictions on abortion and public funding. 
  On that same date, Sen. Orrin Hatch withdraws his proposed constitutional amendment on abortion, saying there isn’t enough time in the current session to move the measure.  His proposal would give the states and Congress joint authority to regulate abortion.
• September 9, 1984:    Roman Catholic Archbishop John J. O’Connor charges Democrat Vice-Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro with misrepresenting the church’s stand on abortion.  O’Connor says Ferraro has created the mistaken impression that Roman Catholic teaching is flexible and open to interpretation.  She denies the archbishop’s charge.
• September 13, 1984:  New York Governor Mario Cuomo delivers his infamous “Notre Dame” speech on abortion.  He claims that elected officials in a pluralistic society should resist attempts to outlaw abortion, regardless of their personal moral views – as long as abortion is supported by a majority of American citizens.
• September 16, 1984:  Episcopal Bishop Paul Moore of New York says he does not personally favor abortion.  However, he regards it as a matter of personal conscience.
• September 8, 1985:    Pope John Paul II issues his strongest condemnation of abortion to date.  He says an unborn human being’s right to live is “one of the inalienable human rights”.
• September 20, 1987:  Pope John Paul II sternly condemns the practice of legal abortion in the United States during his American visit.
• September 22, 1987:  Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon becomes the first Republican to oppose Judge Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court.  He says he fears that Bork will help overturn Roe v. Wade.
• September 17, 1988:  An advisory committee of the National Institutes of Health concludes that it is “morally acceptable” to use aborted baby tissue in medical research.
• September 27, 1988:  Vice President George Bush, during his presidential campaign, retracts a controversial remark made the night before during his debate with Michael Dukakis.  Bush says that while he supports a constitutional amendment banning abortion, he does not believe women should suffer criminal penalties for killing their children.  Criminal liability should be limited to abortionists.
• September 27, 1989:  Dr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu wins the Lasker Award for his development of the abortion pill, RU-486.
• September 1, 2000:    Idaho Federal Magistrate Mikel Williams issues a preliminary ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Lance – a lawsuit brought by the Abortion Industry to overturn Idaho’s Parental Consent Law.  He rules that the temporary restraining order against the Parental Consent law should be largely lifted, pending a full trial.
  This modified Judge Williams’ temporary order ( July 7, 2000) preventing enforcement of SB1299, passed by the Idaho Legislature in the 2000 Session.  Parental Consent for teenage abortions goes into effect in Idaho for the first time.
  Idaho Chooses Life Alliance, Inc. files first amicus brief in the case, which was cited in William’s order.

• October 12, 1970: The U.S. Supreme Court lets stand a lower court ruling that Wisconsin’s law outlawing abortion is unconstitutional because it infringes on women’s “constitutional rights to have abortions in the early stages of pregnancy”.  McCann v. Babbitz.
• October 12, 1970: Pope Paul VI delivers an address in Washington, D.C. to a convention of Catholic doctors.  He compares abortion to infanticide and calls its legalization a return to barbarism and paganism.
• October 22, 1976: U.S. Federal District Judge John F. Dooling rules the Hyde Amendment “unconstitutional”.  His decision blocked implementation of the Medicaid funding restriction in all fifty states, enacted by the Congress in September.  They had to override President Ford’s veto of the Hyde Amendment.
• October 10, 1978: Congress enacts legislation restricting the use of tax money to pay for abortions for military personnel and their family members.
• October 7, 1984: Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale clash over abortion in their first televised debate.  The Minnesota Democrat pledges support for an unrestricted right to first trimester abortions.  Reagan pledges support for the objectives of the pro-Life movement.
• October 8, 1985: 17,000 aborted babies are buried after being discarded by a California medical laboratory.  A three-year legal dispute took place after their discovery, with some objecting to any kind of religious ceremony.  President Ronald Reagan delivered a written euology.
• October 23, 1987: The U.S. Senate votes 58-42 against Judge Robert Bork’s confirmation to the United States Senate.  The margin of defeat is the greatest in American history for a nominee.  Abortion is a central issue in the campaign against him.
• October 27, 1988: Under mounting pressure from pro-Life groups, the French company Groupe Roussel Uclaf suspends sales of its new baby-killing drug, RU-486.  Two days later the French government orders the company to resume sales.  French Minister of Health Claude Levin calls RU-486 the “moral property of women”.
• October 6, 1989: The Florida Supreme Court rules that a new law requiring Parental Consent for teenage abortions violates the state constitution’s right for girls to be “free from governmental intrusion in their private lives”.

• 1969: Planned Parenthood Federation of America publicly calls for the elimination of all anti-abortion laws in the criminal codes of the various states.  They seek to make abortion a legally sanctioned medical procedure.
• 1972: Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp vetoes a tough anti-abortion bill passed by the legislature.  He says it is “so restrictive as to be unenforceable”.  The legislature overrides his veto.  Pro-abortion forces take the law to federal court; in 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Colautti v. Franklin that the statute is too vague and too restrictive on the professional judgment of physicians.  Among its provisions is a requirement that an abortionist use a method most likely to save the life of a viable preborn child.
• 1976: The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Sendak v. Arnold.  This case involved an Indiana law requiring first trimester abortions be performed in a hospital or licensed health care facility.  The Supreme Court declared such protections for women and girls to be “unconstitutional”.
• 1977: A Carter-appointed “study group” declares that the only real options to abortion are “suicide, motherhood and …. madness”.  Connie Downey, head of the group, issues a memo to Health, Education & Welfare Secretary Joseph Califano, in which she says that the study group lacked the direction, scope, authorization and money needed to solve the problems associated with unwanted pregnancies.
• 1978: Pro-Life leaders announce plans to defeat five liberal pro-abort senators in the 1980 general elections.  Those efforts were largely successful and heralded a more aggressive electoral strategy for the pro-family movement.
• 1979: The New York Times releases a national poll purporting to find that 64% of Roman Catholics and 69% of Protestants support abortion rights, at least in some cases.
  The poll is part of a long-standing propaganda campaign by the mainstream media to persuade both the public and policy makers that America has come to accept the “wisdom” of the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade.
• 1983: The Congress approves a spending bill that bars federal employee health benefits from covering abortions, unless the mother’s life is threatened.
• 1988: Democrat Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis reaffirms his party’s commitment to abortion rights.  Five days later, Ronald Reagan signs a law banning the commercial sale of fetal tissue and organs.
• 1989: President George Bush extends a 19-month old ban on federal funding of research using fetal tissue.  Some scientists decry the decision as an obstacle to finding cures for diabetes and Parkinson’s Disease.
  Also that year, Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Courter of New Jersey loses his general election after switching his position on abortion late in the campaign.  After beginning his career as a “pro-Life” politician, Courter finds that he has actually been a closet “pro-choice” guy all along.
  The Pennsylvania Legislature enacts a series of pro-Life laws, which is signed into law by Democrat Governor Robert P. Casey.  The legislation is challenged in federal court and ultimately produces the seminal Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling of 1992.
• 2005: Idaho Federal Judge Lynn Winmill denies the State’s petition to reconsider his earlier ruling striking Idaho’s amended Parental Consent Law.  The law, enacted by the Legislature in 2000, was upheld by Idaho Federal Magistrate Mikel Williams in the fall of 2000 – but subsequently struck by a 3-judge panel of the 9th Circuit.  After the Legislature amended the law in 2005, to meet the 9th Circuit’s objections – Planned Parenthood refiled its lawsuit.  They claimed the law violated the Constitution because it required parents to be notified in cases of medical emergency.  The Abortion Lobby also decried a provision which required judges to investigate suspected cases of child sexual abuse.  Winmill agreed.  The most outrageous portion of Winmill’s edict, however, was his refusal to honor the Legislature’s severability language; this despite clear Supreme Court precedent on the matter.
• Also in 2005: The U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood, involving a parental notice law in New Hampshire.  It is the first abortion case before the Court in five years.  Outgoing Justice Sandra Day O’Connor sat for the arguments, as Judge Samuel Alito’s confirmation remained pending before the U.S. Senate.

• 1978: In the Becker v. Shwartz "wrongful birth" case the New York State Court of Appeals found in favor of a couple who gave birth to a Down Syndrome baby and who sued the doctor who had failed to inform them that older pregnant women run a heightened risk of delivering a baby with Down Syndrome.
• 1984:The Silent Scream, a sonogram video of a baby being killed in an abortion procedure, is publicly released in 1984.
• Christmas Eve, 2009: U.S. Senate amends and passes the “Affordable Care Act.”