By Interim Staff
Joe Scheidler, founder of Pro-Life Action League, died of pneumonia Jan. 18 at age 93.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Scheidler was known as “the godfather of pro-life activism,” and praise came in immediately for the deceased pro-life leader. American Life League president Judie Brown said he was “the pro-life movement’s gentle giant” — he stood at six feet, four inches — who showered kindness on all he met. Brown said the Pro-Life Action League was “an organization that would become the driving force behind peaceful pro-life action all across this nation.” His 1985 activists’ manual, Closed: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion, became a handbook for many pro-lifers.
Eric J. Scheidler, who succeeded his father as executive director of the Pro-Life Action League, said, “My father’s five decades of leadership on the front lines of the pro-life movement were an inspiration to so many.” He added, “For years, people have been telling me about the talk or protest where they met my father, and how his words and example prompted them to do more than just talk, but to take personal responsibility for addressing the injustice.”
Joe Scheidler was born in Hartford City, Indiana, in 1927, served as a military policeman in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and returned home to the seminary to become a priest. He discerned that he was not called to the priesthood and moved to Chicago. Scheidler was active in the pro-life movement, but his son Eric said that during a demonstration in Chicago in 1972, Joe saw a picture of an aborted baby that reminded him of his son; the abortion issue became deeply personal and he dedicated his life to fighting for the protection of preborn life. He made images of preborn babies a large part of his work.
Former U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, the last pro-life Democrat until he was defeated in the party’s primaries last year, praised Scheidler for “drawing attention to laws that put unborn children outside the protection of our Constitution.” Lipinski said, “His efforts to educate the general public and to protest the killing of unborn children earned the admiration of millions of Americans across the country.”
In 1986, the National Organization for Women named Scheidler in a lawsuit, alleging he and the Pro-Life Action Network used violence to block abortion mills. The legal claims were based on the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). In 1994, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 9-0 that a non-profit organization could be considered a racketeering enterprise, allowing the case to move forward. The trial began in 1998 and a lower court jury found Scheidler and the Network guilty of conspiring to use violence to prevent women from entering abortion facilities. The decision was ultimately overturned in an 8-1 Supreme Court decision, as the justices found that while Scheidler and the Network deprived abortion mills of property, they did not actually acquire it for themselves meaning there was no extortion. Scheidler called it “a decisive victory.” Mary FioRito, an attorney and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, said NOW likely targeted Scheidler in court because of his international reputation and his effectiveness at convincing women not to go through with their abortions. Scheidler called his 2016 autobiography, Racketeer for Life. In 2013, the Seventh Circuit Court, ordered Now to reimburse Scheidler more than $63,000 legal costs associated with the harassment suit against him.
Scheidler is survived by his wife, Ann, seven children, 26 grandchildren and one great granddaughter.
