BY SARAH KATZ AND JACQUIE HENDERSON
ST. PAUL, Minnesota - A meeting of the antiabortion group Human Life International (HLI), held here April 16-20, sparked controversy and protests. The group drew more than 2,000 people to its annual conference. HLI actively campaigns against women's rights, lesbians and gays, feminism, abortion, sex education, and contraception. It targets immigrants, Muslims, and Jews.

The public debate over the conference forced Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis to back out of giving the opening mass for the conference. He came under pressure from the American Jewish Committee and other Jewish religious leaders to disassociate himself from HLI and the anti- Semitism prominent in its propaganda. Rev. Paul Marx, who founded HLI in 1981, urges readers in his autobiography to "note the large numbers of abortionists.. who are Jewish."

To counter the appearance of anti-Semitism, HLI conference organizers enlisted the support of Rabbi Yehuda Levin from New York. Rabbi Levin, who was a prominent supporter of ultrarightist Patrick Buchanan's presidential campaign, accompanied Rev. Marx in all his public appearances here. HLI took out a full page advertisement in the Minneapolis daily the Star Tribune appealing to the archbishop to change his mind. Flynn refused to address the conference, but allowed the group use of St. Paul Cathedral for its opening mass.

As the mass took place April 19, more than 150 demonstrators rallied on the church steps chanting "Not the church, not the state, women must control their fate," and "Pro-life? Who are you kidding? You kill doctors and terrorize women." The demonstration, organized by a group called Fight the Right Coalition was advertised as a "kiss- in" and demonstration. Many students organized to come from high schools and colleges in the area. Adam Tressler, one of 25 students to come from Macalester College, said, "This is part of the struggle over space. They want to take this space from us. We have to stand up for our right to be ourselves in public."

The following Saturday another 150 people demonstrated against HLI at its conference site in the suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The demonstrators marched around the Radisson Hotel chanting, "Racist, sexist, anti-queer, HLI get out of here."

The demonstrators held an open mic in front of the hotel, in spite of the fact that police seized their microphone.

Earlier that day, about 50 of the rightists, most of them young people, had demonstrated outside the Robbinsdale Women's Center, a clinic that provides abortions and other health services, harassing patients and trying to prevent them from gaining access to the facility.

Sarah Katz is a member of the Young Socialists and Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Local 6-75.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home