Phyllis Schlafly, well-known conservative and pro-life leader, swept onstage for the evening’s abortion debate with pro-choice advocate Sarah Weddington. Dressed in a vibrant lavender dress, rhinestone pin and carefully coiffed hair, Schlafly waved to the crowd.

Smiling at the applause and ignoring catcalls, she was ready to share the beliefs for which she travelled night after night, week after week. Like the divisive abortion issue, the debate sparked controversy and did not significantly alter opinions.

“The basis for my argument is we get our unalienable right to life from our Creator and it shouldn’t be taken away without due process,” Schlafly said in a pre-debate interview, adding, “The unborn baby hasn’t had any due process at all.”

Schlafly, who earned a master’s degree from Harvard and holds a law degree, was instrumental in preventing the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Her strong stand against abortion put her in the forefront of the pro-life movement, she said.

She rejects the idea of the freedom of speech and choice in making a decision to have an abortion. “Free speech may supercede someone else’s right to free speech or petition, but life is of a higher rank than the other liberties in this country,” she asserted.

When Schlafly addressed the debate audience, she said, “The large crowd here tonight shows abortion is a compelling issue and one that goes right to the soul of what we in America are all about. Abortion is the most difficult decision a woman will ever make. But why is it difficult?

“If the doctor says you have appendicitis you certainly don’t welcome surgery, but you do say ‘get it out.’ The decision for abortion is difficult because you know and I know and the pregnant woman knows that an abortion does not cut away a diseased part of the body; an abortion kills the life that is within her,” Schlafly said.

The abortion debate was not an unusual exchange of words between the two women. Schlafly frequently debates Weddington, the lawyer who at 26 successfully argued for abortion legalization in 1973’s Roe vs. Wade.

“The more we know about the miracle of life that develops within the mother’s womb, the more we realize that whether you call it a fetus or an embryo or a zygote if you look at it, it has a human face and the best word in the English language to describe it is ‘baby,'” she said.

“We have been told that an unborn baby is a blueprint. Well, if you look at a blueprint for nine months, it will still be a blueprint,” Schlafly commented.

Schlafly believes today’s college students are more conservative than their 1960s’ and 70s’ counterparts. “I think there’s been a big change since the 70s’. They’re (the students) more willing to listen, they’re more polite, better dressed and more courteous,” she said.

Schlafly said she is not surprised by students’ support of the pro-life movement and usually gauges that support by audience applause.

Schlafly said at the debate, “What we are presented with here tonight is two points of view. The one point is that this is an unborn human life and if left alone it will grow and develop and that it should have the unalienable right to life we in America think we should have.

“The other point of view is that the unborn baby is the property of the mother and she can do anything she wants with it because it has no legal rights at all. Can we accept that in our society?” she questioned.

Though some polls indicate the pro-choice opinion is quickly gaining in the nation, Schlafly believes Roe vs. Wade “will eventually be overturned.” Of the Supreme Court’s recent Webster ruling, she said, “I would rather Roe was overturned altogether, but Webster was a victory. I think they (pro-choice activists) are frightened and they wouldn’t be if they thought they had a majority.”

“The people I know think the majority of Americans are opposed to the pro-choice movement,” she said. She added celebrities like Cybill Shepard and Jane Fonda don’t do much for the pro-choice side. “Celebrities only get media attention,” she asserted.

“We were told we have a right to our position, but we don’t have the right to force it on everyone else,” she said. “Well, what do you think they are doing when they are demanding that they spend our taxpayers’ money for their abortions?

“We were told that the Constitution says all persons born or naturalized are citizens. It does say that, but it certainly doesn’t say you can kill non-citizens—and there are a lot of non-citizens in this country,” Schlafley commented.

“Women can make any role in society they want. I wouldn’t dictate to another person what they should do,” Schlafly said, denying that that statement contradicts her pro-life argument. “There’s another person involved in this—a baby. Babies don’t choose to die—1.6 million babies die every year not by their choice.”

“I feel very strongly that an unborn baby is a baby,” she said.