ABSTRACT
The eyes of the country and the eyes of a lot of the world are on Florida. Whatever happens in Florida is going to be viewed as very significant. Of particular importance is the role that the Catholic Church played in organizing and energizing the grassroots pro-life forces in Florida and the very public, albeit religious, campaign sponsored by the church hierarchy. Florida is, in some sense, a state divided both culturally and economically. Historically, social scientists identified two divisions within the state: the northern and central, agricultural-based region and the southern and coastal, service-based region. Over the past fifteen years, however, the "I-4 Corridor," an east-west tract stretching from Daytona Beach through Orlando to Tampa has gained its own political and economic importance. In 1989, Florida was home to over twelve million people and growing daily. Catholics make up about 12.4 percent of the population or 1,539,058 persons.
