ABSTRACT
Two thousand anti-abortion activists came to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in mid-July to attend the National Right-To-Life annual convention, "A New Birth of Freedom." The rank and file of the Right-To-Life are women. Most have never been politically active before they became "pro-life"–usually through their churches. But something is changing in the country's largest single-issue anti-abortion organization. It is becoming more radical. While many of the older members, particularly men, are happy with lobbying, writing letters to the editor and waiting for Reagan to make good on his promises, younger activists are taking a new approach. Quoting King and Gandhi and making references to slavery and the Holocaust have become commonplace in the language of the new anti-abortion organizer. Slavery and the Holocaust were used as themes at this convention. Abortion was often compared to black slavery. Pro-abortion Pennsylvania assemblywoman Ruth Harper spoke against this imagery at a press conference sponsored by the Reproductive Rights National Network.
