Godfather of the pro-life movement, Joe Scheidler, dies at age 93

CHICAGO, Illinois, January 19, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Joe Scheidler, a towering figure in the pro-life movement in the United States, died yesterday at age 93.

Scheidler gained national prominence as chief defendant in the landmark NOW v. Scheidler, filed by the National Organizaiton for Women (NOW) which accused him of being a member “in a nationwide conspiracy to obstruct women’s access to abortion clinics through a pattern of racketeering activity including the actual or implied threat of violence.” The case ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court three times.

In 2003 and 2006, the justices ruled in his favor, 8-0, notching a major victory for the right of Americans to protest.

“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 responsibility for addressing the injustice.”

He spent eight years in religious life, studying for the Catholic priesthood at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana, according to biography provided by the Pro-Life Action League. After discerning that God was not calling him to the priesthood, he served as a teacher at Mundelein College, during which time he chaperoned a group of students on a pilgrimage to march with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

https://prolifeaction.org/2021/pro-life-action-league-mourns-the-death-of-founder-joe-scheidler

Pro-Life Action League Mourns the Death of Founder Joe Scheidler

Chicago, January 18, 2021 — The Pro-Life Action League is mourning the death of founder Joseph M. Scheidler, widely known as the “Godfather of Pro-Life Activism.” Joe began his life’s work fighting abortion in 1973, shortly after the Roe v. Wade decision, and founded the League in 1980 to recruit and equip pro-life Americans to be a voice for unborn children in their own communities throughout the country and the world. Countless pro-life volunteers and leaders alike credit Joe with having inspired them to join the movement.

“My father’s proudest accomplishment was the pro-life work of those he inspired to take an active role in the fight against abortion, the greatest injustice of our time,” said Eric Scheidler, Joe’s oldest son, who serves as the League’s executive director. “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 responsibility for addressing the injustice.”

Joe was born on September 7, 1927, in Hartford City, Indiana. After serving in the U.S. Navy as a military policeman at the end of World War II, he earned a bachelor’s degree in communications at the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s Degree at Marquette University. He spent eight years in religious life, studying for the Catholic priesthood at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. After discerning that God was not calling him to the priesthood, he served as a teacher at Mundelein College, during which time he chaperoned a group of students on a pilgrimage to march with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

“It’s fitting that my father died on the day when Americans remember the legacy of Martin Luther King,” said Eric Scheidler. “Seeing the impact that regular Americans could have by taking action against racial injustice inspired my father to mobilize Americans in the same way in the fight against the injustice of abortion.” That story and many others from his five decades of pro-life activism are recounted his 2016 memoir Racketeer for Life: Fighting the Culture of Death from the Sidewalk to the Supreme Court.

Joe’s career as a pro-life activist took him to every state in U.S. and countries on four continents, as well as through countless court battles, including the notorious NOW v. Scheidler RICO case, the longest case in U.S. federal court history and the only one to make three trips to the U.S. Supreme Court, including 8-1 and 8-0 rulings in 2003 and 2006 that fully vindicated him. His 1985 book CLOSED: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion, a centerpiece of the NOW v. Scheidler trial, became the manual for pro-life activists throughout the world.

Joe Scheidler died of pneumonia at the age of 93 at 9:45 a.m. on Monday, January 18, 2021, surrounded by his family at his home on Chicago’s northwest side. Joe is survived by his wife Ann, seven children, twenty-six grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter. Funeral arrangements will be announced shortly in his official obituary.

https://www.hli.org/2021/01/remembering-joe-scheidler
Remembering Joe Scheidler, “Godfather” of the Pro-Life Movement

by Fr. Shenan J. Boquet
January 18th, 2021

The pro-life movement has lost one of its original warriors and one of the most dedicated and effective pro-life leaders in the history of the pro-life movement.

Joe Scheidler, the founder of Chicago’s Pro-Life Action League, was an indefatigable fighter for human life and a stellar example of a Catholic husband and father. He was known as “The Godfather of the Pro-Life Movement” for his nearly half-century of full-time activism in defense of human life, and because he literally wrote the book on pro-life activism, “CLOSED: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion.”

Human Life International’s founder, Fr. Paul Marx, O.S.B., and Joe first met in 1973. They became close friends and colleagues, participating in several international missions together. Joe credited Fr. Marx with spurring him on to full time pro-life activism and for being his pro-life mentor.

While Joe has worked tirelessly for unity in the pro-life movement, he stood for truth and did not compromise his core beliefs, regardless of the consequences. As with his longtime friend, Fr. Marx, Joe was one of the few pro-life leaders who boldly and unapologetically spoke about the link between contraception and abortion.

Joe was truly a role model for all those involved in building a culture of life. Although he has gone from our sight, he has left a wondrous legacy, his wife Ann, his son Eric and all of his other children and grandchildren to carry on the fight, along with thousands of other pro-lifers he brought into our movement.

On the occasion of Joe’s passing from this world, I am reminded of the late Congressman Henry Hyde’s well-known quote:

When the time comes as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I’ve often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates; you are there alone standing before God – and a terror will rip through your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there will be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world – and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, “Spare him because he loved us,” – and God will look at you and say not, “Did you succeed?” but “Did you try?”

I am quite certain Joe, who did not turn away from what had to be done, trying with all his heart and strength to defend the weak and defenseless, was heralded by a chorus of little ones, proclaiming before the Almighty, “Spare him because he loved us.”

We entrust our brother to the Lord, thanking Him for the gift of Joe’s long and fruitful life. May He receive His faithful servant into paradise.

Rest in Peace, Joe.

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