SCRANTON — Helen Gohsler spent the past 44 years fighting for the lives of the unborn, protesting presidential candidates and fending off abortion clinics as she waged war against the Roe v. Wade decision.
Now, the longtime leader of the Scranton Chapter of Pennsylvanians for Human Life is stepping down from her role as president, putting away her picket signs to spend more time with her husband, Richard.
“My husband thought it was time — he’s been after me, I think, for the last five years,” she said. “I kept saying, ‘this is the worst time for me to retire.’ ”
Although Gohsler doesn’t know what to expect in retirement, she decided it was time to leave her post.
“I’m well past retirement age,” she said.
The career anti-abortion advocate declined to share her age but joked that her husband turned 90, and “I’m not a heck of a lot behind him.”
‘Pro-life capital’
During her tenure with Pennsylvanians for Human Life, Gohsler helped orchestrate protests against at least three presidential candidates, including Al Gore, Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale and his running mate Geraldine Ferraro.
She worked with Pennsylvanians for Human Life to prevent abortion clinics from moving into the county.
She helped arrange regular Planned Parenthood pickets.
And she helped expand the Scranton Chapter of Pennsylvanians for Human Life from 1,000 members and supporters in 1982 to a peak of about 20,000 in the 1990s, she said. Now, that number hovers between 17,000 to 18,000.
She attributed the organization’s growth to membership mailings, petitions at events and newspaper articles.
“People would just travel to us, and we would get them enlisted,” she said.
One of her fondest memories came when a huge crowd of activists took to Wyoming Avenue to protest Ferraro for her pro-abortion rights stance during a campaign rally, Gohsler said. Activists had a large blimp-shaped balloon flying a banner emblazoned with, “Geraldine, we hope you got the message,” Gohsler said.
The move garnered national media attention, she said.
“They designated us at that time as the pro-life capital of the world,” she said, a smile spreading across her face. “That has kind of stuck all these years.”
‘I hung in there’
Sitting at a cluttered desk lined with photos of herself meeting anti-abortion politicians, Gohsler reflected on her 37 years as president.
She shook hands with former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney. She smiled as she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. She posed for a group photo with late state Rep. Sid Michaels Kavulich in Harrisburg. At the center of her photo lineup, she has a family photo given to her by a Pennsylvanians for Human Life member with nine children.
Meeting then-president Bush and introducing herself as the local Pennsylvanians for Human Life leader was one of the greatest honors of her career, she said, fondly recalling how he held her hand between his during the exchange.
As Bush started to walk away, he turned around and told her, “Stay strong,” she said.
She took his advice, saying, “I hung in there.”
Before she took up the fight against abortion, Gohsler grew up on a 53-acre farm in Clarks Summit and Scott Twp. as one of six children.
She was raised Catholic and moved to the city in 1957 when she married her husband. As the couple raised three children, she led multiple parent-teacher associations, raised funds for about a dozen charities and was involved with her church.
She remembered hearing about the United States Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which essentially legalized abortion by overruling a state law that banned the act, on the radio after the decision came down in January 1973. At the time, she didn’t think much of it.
“I don’t know why it didn’t particularly strike me as something being wrong,” she said. “I don’t know why it didn’t. It was as if, well, it was just another Supreme Court decision.”
That view didn’t last long.
A nun at her church at the time, the now-shuttered St. Vincent de Paul, invited Gohsler to a Pennsylvanians for Human Life presentation in December 1973.
The presenter displayed a slide show of prenatal development followed by abortion photos.
As soon as she saw the photos, she was committed to the cause for life.
‘As long as it takes’
Gohsler began attending more meetings and became the organization’s public relations director in 1975. She was elected as vice president soon after, and in 1982, the president position fell into her lap when the organization’s third president, Denise Neary, resigned.
When Gohsler took on the role, she never thought she’d still be fighting against abortion as president 37 years later, but she and her fellow activists abide by the maxim “for as long as it takes, we will be in this,” she said.
Her ultimate goal is to not only have Roe v. Wade overturned but also to have legislation put in place to restrict abortion. Without Roe v. Wade in place, the legality of abortion would be up to each state, she said.
Gohsler’s passionate stance against abortion is fueled by what she calls the “greatest human rights issue of our time.”
“You’re looking at slavery, which was the previous issue of the time, and it took 100 years and a Supreme Court decision to free the slaves,” she said. “And here we are now into 45 years. We hope it’s not going to take 100 years.”
Despite the criticism and opposition she has received, Gohsler never felt like quitting.
Ardently fighting against a divisive issue like abortion means angry phone calls, even harassing calls to her house. When Pennsylvanians for Human Life had a billboard calling abortions evil last year, a woman called and told them they should be ashamed of themselves, Gohsler said.
“Oh, she was nasty,” she said.
When news stories involving violence against babies appear in the paper, the organization frequently receives clippings of the articles scrawled with, “This is why we should have abortion,” she said.
“You have to just let it slide,” Gohsler said.
The organization’s strength comes from focusing on one issue — abortion, she said.
“Because the cause is just, it is our cause to win, and we’re determined to win it,” she said.
‘No guarantees in life’
Gohsler’s proudest accomplishment is simply having a “pro-life center,” which allows people to easily find them.
There are only a handful of such centers in Pennsylvania, with most organizations operating out of members’ homes, she said.
Gohsler helped run Pennsylvanians for Human Life from her home until 1988, when her husband told her they didn’t have room to store all of the equipment.
She decided they needed an office and found a spot on Broadway Street in Scranton for $299 a month.
When she told her husband about the office, he said she should have guarantees that she’ll get enough money to pay for it.
“I said to him, ‘There are no guarantees in life,’ ” she laughed.
She reached out to members for donations, and they responded, she said.
The organization moved into the Guild Building on Wyoming Avenue about 3½ years ago, Gohsler said.
Visitors at the center on Wyoming Avenue are immediately greeted by a small library of anti-abortion literature with plastic models of the stages of prenatal development on display. Shelves of colorful informational pamphlets line one wall. The tight office space in the next room has shelves of related paraphernalia — a smiling baby, illustrations of mothers holding infants and a laminated sign saying, “Smile! Your mom chose life.”
‘She’s relentless’
When Gohsler walked into her office on Wednesday, board member Wendy McDonnell quipped, “I love her. I love this woman.”
McDonnell has worked with Gohsler for the past two years, and she lauded the president’s dedication.
“Helen is so special,” she said. “I admire her. She’s driven. … She’s relentless.”
Gohsler’s pastor at Mary, Mother of God Parish, the Rev. Cyril Edwards, said he’s known her for close to a decade.
She’s a devout Catholic who dedicated a tremendous part of her life to fighting against abortion, he said.
“She truly has been the face of that organization for a very long time,” Edwards said.
She faithfully attends 11 a.m. Mass on Sundays and is dedicated to her family, he said.
Gohsler was a precise leader who had a dramatic impact on the Scranton chapter, said founding member Anne Domin.
“She managed things by being in charge of everything,” Domin said. “So even if you were in charge of it, you weren’t.”
Gohsler expects Domin to be voted in as her successor. Domin, a retired nurse and educator, was one of the group’s original presenters, displaying the same abortion slide shows that initially inspired Gohsler to get involved.
Both Gohsler and Domin noted the importance of attracting young people to the organization. If elected as president by the Scranton chapter’s board, Domin hopes to do just that.
The group’s annual participation in the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., shows young people that the abortion issue isn’t just something in Scranton, Domin said. Participating in the annual rally is one of the greatest things the organization has ever done, she said.
Domin also wants to reach out to the region’s Hispanic population to get them involved, and she wants to promote adoption over abortion.
“I’m a person that’s not going to try to fill (Gohsler’s) shoes,” she said. “You can’t fill anybody else’s shoes. You have to be yourself.”
Contact the writer: flesnefsky@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5181; @flesnefskyTT on Twitter