Former antiabortion leader explains motives behind movement, reasons why he left
Rev. Rob Schenck was prominent name in antiabortion circles before he changed his mind
(Photo courtesy Rob Schenck)
The Rev. Rob Schenck was for decades one of the most influential antiabortion leaders in the country. His approach angered many, with the wife of one slain abortion doctor blaming his rhetoric and activism for her husband’s death.
Schenck has since left the antiabortion movement and now denounces most of what he had done as part of his work in antiabortion circles. His recollection and perspective on the past 40 years of the debate provide insight into how the other side works, thinks, and justifies behavior. He is currently working on a book that will tell how he and others shifted the judiciary against the reproductive rights community.
Schenck appeared in the 2020 biopic about Norma McCorvey, who was the unidentified plaintiff in Roe v. Wade. The film revealed that McCorvey–who had been a longtime pro-choice movement member–had shifted her stance and became antiabortion because Schenck and others paid her to do so. McCorvey would go from antiabortion group to group and plead for money. She complained about how poorly she was treated. Sometimes the check Schenck would send would be as little as $500 and as much as $3,000.
“I have deep regrets attached to all of that,” Schenck said.
Another shocking moment Schenck was involved in was when an antiabortion activist confronted President Bill Clinton during his first campaign for the White House. Schenck helped plan it. A man approached Clinton with a folded newspaper and asked for an autograph. When Clinton was handed a pen, the antiabortion activist who had disguised him showed a fetal remain wrapped in the newspaper.
At the time, he knew a laboratory technician in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who worked for a pathologist and had access to fetal remains. One of the more troubling things activists did at the time was use actual fetal remains to harass activists and feminist leaders. One problem they had was in getting it through airport security. The man told him that they could strap fetal remains to their body to take with them on flights to places where they held antiabortion rallies.
“That's what in the end we did,” Schenck said. “We had couriers, and the couriers taped these fetal remains to their bodies, passed through the metal detectors at the airports and flew them into various locations,” Schenck said.
Schenck said he finds that to be ‘morbid’ when he thinks about it now. But at the time, it seemed like a normal thing to do for many antiabortion activists.
“It took a long time to realize that the woman involved in the abortion was as important and more important than the fetus,” Schenck said. “But in those days, the woman was a secondary character, like almost like a bit player.”
As I’ve written about before, the antiabortion movement has long exploited the black community by misrepresenting Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood and eugenics. It’s something that liberal activists have to be prepared for by having historical literacy when it comes to reproductive issues.
“The messaging was, ‘If it weren't for abortion, you'd probably win a lot more elections and get a lot more black influence in politics. So you know, this is not in your interest,’” Schenck said. “That was our messaging platform.”
The most bothersome moment in his antiabortion career was the time after Dr. Barnett Slepian’s death. Schenck said he was a pacifist, but the men who came to his gatherings in Buffalo often had empty holsters and increasingly became more hostile to pro-choice people. Many had issues with the “feminizing” of the church. It culminated with a sniper, James Kopp, firing a bullet through the window of Slepian’s home while he was in his kitchen. He died from the wound. Slepian’s family was in the house at the time.
Afterward, Schenck worried about public relations. He wanted to do damage control. He called for prayers and to lay flowers at the grave of Slepian.
“It was a great insult to the family,” Schenck said. “And I now understand that and why.”
Schenck lost touch with most of the anti-abortion leaders now. They think he is a traitor.
When Roe was finally overturned, Schenck’s reaction was complex. He had been part of a successful movement and had played a large part in its success. But he had changed his mind about what the country should do with abortion.
“All the wrong people won,” Schenck said. “That was my conclusion. Including myself. I was wrong. They are all wrong. The whole system that gave us a majority on the court able to do this was wrong. All the wrong people won. And that was that was a very, very bitter thing to sit with.”