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The following St. Louis Post-Dispatch article covered the possibility of anti-abortion protests against the United Way of Greater St. Louis, a fundraising organization that serves health and human services organizations. Protests took place in Chicago because United Way supported and funded the city's Planned Parenthood, a national provider of family planning services and abortions. When the following article was written, Annie O'Donnell, the president of Missouri Citizens for Life (MCL), said her organization was postponing a boycott because the United Way of Greater St. Louis did not contribute funds to Planned Parenthood in St. Louis. O'Donnell did express her suspicion of United Way support for pro-choice organizations such as the YWCA and the Life Crisis Center. The anti-abortion movement's desire to monitor organizations presumably connected to abortion, such as United Way, is evidence of the complete polarization of the abortion controversy. Prior to the St. Louis Abortion Mini-Summit, willingness to "seek common ground" did not exist.
By PAUL WAGMAN
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff
A statewide anti-abortion group has postponed a decision on whether to join a national boycott of the United Way until it can make further study of what agencies in Missouri receive United Way funds.
The board of directors of the Missouri Citizens for Life, which claims between 18,000 and 20,000 active members, agreed to postpone any action at a meeting Saturday in Columbia.
Annie O'Donnell of Ladue, president of the organization, said in a telephone interview that the group may invite the Rev. Charles Fiore, a Chicago priest who is leading the boycott, to come to Missouri to explain his reasons for starting it.
Fiore, president of Friends for Life, announced the boycott at a Chicago press conference Thursday on the eve of the United Way's annual campaign kick-off.
The situation in Chicago is somewhat different than the one in St. Louis, Mrs. O'Donnell said. The Chicago United Way helps support Planned Parenthood, but the United Way of Greater St. Louis does not, she said. Planned Parenthood is objectionable because of its stand for abortion rights, she said. The nation's 2,250 United Way organizations are autonomous and support different organizations.
"This is why we think a national boycott is...a little premature," Mrs. O'Donnell said. "There could be a lot of places where there is no problem."
Mrs. O'Donnell said there also was resistance to the boycott within the organization "because the United Way does so much good." She said that some members of the board had said they were active in it.
Frank W. Carr Jr., executive vice president of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, expressed concern Saturday that a boycott could disrupt the agency's effort to raise $20 million by the end of this year. The money would be used to subsidize more than 125 organizations in St. Louis, St. Louis County, St. Charles County, northern Jefferson County and St. Clair County in Illinois.
United Way beneficiaries include many denominational agencies, including many of the Catholic Chuch, a primary opponent of abortion.
In St. Louis, Carr said it had provided almost $2 million to 20 Catholic organizations this year and would provide funds to 23 groups next year.
Notwithstanding the absence of Planned Parenthood from the list of recipients of United Way of Greater St. Louis funds, Mrs. O'Donnell said she was concerned about 13 other groups the United Way of Greater St. Louis is supporting. She said that the 13 agencies refer clients for abortion, provide abortion counseling, or support abortion. She named the Young Women's Christian Association and Life Crisis Services as the two organizations that were the most offensive.
The YWCA here, she said, has played an activist role in support of abortion. Life Crisis Services, 7438 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton, has referred clients to Reproductive Health Services, 100 North Euclid Avenue, which provides abortions, she said.
Carr said Saturday that no group supported by the United Way here is directly involved in abortion. A few groups provide counseling in which abortion is suggested only as a last-choice option to clients, he said.
In a letter published Friday in the St. Louis Review, the newspaper of the St. Louis Catholic Archdiocese, Cardinal John J. Carberry gave his "heartfelt endorsement" to the "vitally important community effort" represented by the United Way's newly begun campaign, Carr noted. "How in the world are we going to get the endorsement of the cardinal if we are participating in abortion activities?" Carr asked.
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