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The GOP’s Abortion Strategy: Why Pro-Choice Republicans Became Pro-Life in the 1970s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2011

Daniel K. Williams
Daniel K. Williams*
Affiliation:
University of West Georgia
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Journal of Policy History , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , October 2011 , pp. 513 - 539
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Copyright © Donald Critchlow and Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

NOTES

1. Layman, Geoffrey, The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics (New York, 2001)Google Scholar, 124. The terms “pro-choice” and “pro-life” have such heavy political connotations that some scholars refuse to use them. Donald Critchlow uses the terms “antiabortion” and “proabortion,” which were commonly used terms in the early 1970s, in Intended Consequences: Birth Control, Abortion, and the Federal Government in Modern America (New York, 1999). In contrast, Leslie Cannold, an advocate of abortion rights, uses the terms “pro-choice” and “anti-choice” in The Abortion Myth: Feminism, Morality, and the Hard Choices Women Make (Hanover, N.H., 2000). Other scholars who have avoided use of the polemical term “anti-choice” have also shied away from the term “pro-life,” preferring to use the term “antiabortion” instead. But I follow the lead of scholars such as Luker, Kristin (author of Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood [Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1984])Google Scholar, who designate the two sides in this controversy as “pro-choice” and “pro-life,” the terms that each side has generally used as self-monikers. For the sake of consistency, and in order to be fair to both sides in this political debate, I use the terms “antiabortion,” “pro-life,” and “right-to-life” to refer to opponents of abortion who seek to use the law to restrict its availability, and “pro-choice” and “supporters of abortion rights” to refer to the proponents of keeping abortion legal.

2. Rymph, Catherine E., Republican Women: Feminism and Conservatism from Suffrage Through the Rise of the New Right (Chapel Hill, 2006), 205Google Scholar; Melich, Tanya, The Republican War Against Women: An Insider’s Report from Behind the Lines (New York, 1996), 53Google Scholar; UPI, “Betty Ford Would Accept ‘An Affair’ by Daughter,” New York Times, 11 August 1975; “Gallup Poll Shows More ‘Pro-Life’ Backing,” Washington Times, 16 May 2009.

3. For studies of the pro-life movement and the public debate over abortion, see Jacoby, Kerry N., Souls, Bodies, Spirits: The Drive to Abolish Abortion Since 1973 (Westport, Conn., 1998)Google Scholar; Luker, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood; McKeegan, Michele, Abortion Politics: Mutiny in the Ranks of the Right (New York, 1992)Google Scholar; and Risen, James and Thomas, Judy L., Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War (New York, 1998).Google Scholar For political scientists’ analyses of changes in political opinion on abortion, see Adams, Greg D., “Abortion: Evidence of an Issue Evolution,” American Journal of Political Science 41 (1997): 718–37Google Scholar; Jaenicke, Douglas W., “Abortion and Partisanship in the US Congress, 1976–2000: Increasing Partisan Cohesion and Differentiation,” Journal of American Studies 36 (2002): 1–22Google Scholar; and Carmines, Edward G. and Woods, James, “The Role of Party Activists in the Evolution of the Abortion Issue,” Political Behavior 24 (2002): 361–77.Google Scholar For histories of the politics of birth control that include a discussion of abortion, see Caron, Simone M., Who Chooses? American Reproductive History Since 1830 (Gainesville, 2008)Google Scholar; Critchlow, Intended Consequences; Critchlow, Donald T., ed., The Politics of Abortion and Birth Control in Historical Perspective (University Park: Pa., 1996)Google Scholar; Gordon, Linda, The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control Politics in America, 3rd ed. (Urbana, 2002)Google Scholar; and Solinger, Rickie, Pregnancy and Power: A Short History of Reproductive Politics in America (New York, 2005).Google Scholar

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5. Sharpless, John, “World Population Growth, Family Planning, and American Foreign Policy,” in Politics of Birth Control and Abortion in Historical Perspective, ed. Critchlow, , 76–77Google Scholar; Jacoby, Souls, Bodies, Spirits, 3.

6. Nossiff, Rosemary, Before Roe: Abortion Policy in the States (Philadelphia, 2001), 35–37Google Scholar; Garrow, David J., Liberty and Sexuality: The Right to Privacy and the Making of “Roe v. Wade” (New York, 1994), 285–90Google Scholar; Mohr, James C., “Iowa’s Abortion Battles of the Late 1960s and Early 1970s: Long-Term Perspectives and Short-Term Analyses,” in Iowa History Reader, ed. Bergman, Marvin (Ames, 1996), 421.Google Scholar

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9. “House in Carolina Backs Bill Easing Curbs on Abortion,” New York Times, 6 May 1967; Rubin, Eva R., Abortion, Politics, and the Courts: “Roe v. Wade” and Its Aftermath, 2nd ed. (Westport, Conn., 1987), 23–24, 27Google Scholar; Garrow, Liberty and Sexuality, 369–71.

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12. Reeves, Richard, President Nixon: Alone in the White House (New York, 2001), 265Google Scholar; Patrick J. Buchanan to Richard Nixon, 19 April 1971, “President’s Handwriting, April 16 thru 30, 1971” folder, box 10, White House Staff Files (WHSF), President’s Office Files, Nixon Presidential Library; Charles Colson to Peter Flanigan, 18 February 1972, “February 1972” folder, box 131, Charles Colson Files, WHSF, Nixon Presidential Library; Taped conversation between Nixon and Colson, 5 April 1972, Tape EOB 330-17, Nixon White House Tapes, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

13. Reston, “Nixon and Muskie on Abortion,” 43; Richard Nixon, Statement on Abortion, 3 April 1971, “John Ehrlichman [2 of 2]” folder, box 7, Colson Files, WHSF, Nixon Presidential Library.

14. “Military Hospitals Approve Abortions; Local Laws May Be Bypassed,” Washington Post, 18 August 1970; “Nixon Orders End to Eased Abortions in Armed Services,” New York Times, 3 April 1971; Charles Colson to Henry Cashen, 19 July 1972, “July 1972” folder, box 132, Colson Files, WHSF, Nixon Presidential Library.

15. Press Release from Rev. Msgr. James T. McHugh, Family Life Division, United States Catholic Conference, 5 April 1971, “Miscellaneous Reference Materials (3)” folder, box 3, American Citizens Concerned for Life, Inc. (ACCL) Records, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor (Ford Library).

16. Richard Nixon to Terence Cardinal Cooke, 5 May 1972, “John Ehrlichman [2 of 2]” folder, box 7, Colson Files, WHSF, Nixon Presidential Library; Semple, Robert B. Jr., “Nixon Aides Explain Aims of Letter on Abortion Law,” New York Times, 11 May 1972.Google Scholar

17. Rosenthal, Harry F., “Nixon Rejects Population Panel Advice,” Washington Post, 6 May 1972Google Scholar; Semple, Robert B. Jr., “President Bars Birth Curb Plans,” New York Times, 6 May 1972.Google Scholar

18. Evans, Rowland and Novak, Robert, “Behind Humphrey’s Surge,” Washington Post, 27 April 1972Google Scholar; Russell, Mary, “McGovern’s ‘Radical’ Views Attacked,” Washington Post, 6 May 1972Google Scholar; Don Oberdorfer, “‘Radical’ Issue Hits McGovern,” Washington Post, 9 May 1972; Anthony Ripley, “McGovern Victor over Humphrey in Nebraska Vote,” New York Times, 10 May 1972.

19. Tape recording of conversation between Richard Nixon and Charles Colson, Executive Office Building, 5 April 1972, Tape EOB 330-17, Nixon White House Tapes, NARA; Tape recording of conversation between Richard Nixon and H. R. Haldeman, 10 April 1972, Tape Oval 705-3, Nixon White House Tapes; Hempstone, Smith, “Nixon, the Catholic Vote and the Megastates,” Washington Star, 14 June 1972.Google Scholar

20. Garrow, Liberty and Equality, 495–96; Ginsburg, Faye D., Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1989), 67, 270Google Scholar; Rice, John R., “The Murder of the Helpless Unborn,” Sword of the Lord, 22 October 1971.Google Scholar For evangelical opposition to abortion in the early 1970s, see Henry, Carl F. H., “Is Life Ever Cheap?” Eternity, February 1971, 20–21.Google Scholar For Nixon’s views, see Charlie Savage, “On Nixon Tapes, Ambivalence over Abortion, Not Watergate,” New York Times, 23 June 2009, and tape recording of conversation between Richard Nixon and Charles Colson, 23 January 1973, Tape EOB 407-18, Nixon White House Tapes [http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/forresearchers/find/tapes/tape407/407-018.mp3].

21. Stricherz, Mark, Why the Democrats Are Blue: How Secular Liberals Hijacked the People’s Party (New York, 2007), 161–208Google Scholar; Phillips, Kevin, “How Nixon Will Win,” New York Times, 6 August 1972Google Scholar; Miroff, Bruce, The Liberals’ Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party (Lawrence, Kans., 2007), 121, 138Google Scholar; Cohen, Richard M., “Shriver Rebuts Nixon on War,” Washington Post, 11 August 1972Google Scholar; Myra McPherson, “Sisters vs. Sisters: The Abortion Battle Turns Bitter,” Washington Post, 13 July 1972; Charles Colson to Clark MacGregor, 13 July 1972, “July 1972” folder, box 132, Colson Files, WHSF, Nixon Presidential Library.

22. Mason, Robert, Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority (Chapel Hill, 2004), 155Google Scholar; Charlotte Curtis, “Draft Abortion-Reform Plank Being Written at White House,” New York Times, 6 August 1972; “Abortion and Child Care Planks to Be Proposed to the G.O.P.,” New York Times, 11 August 1972; Sally Quinn, “The Republican Women’s Attempt at Semi-Activism,” Washington Post, 24 August 1972; Rita E. Hauser to John Ehrlichman, 28 August 1972, “Abortion” folder, box 28, Colson Files, WHSF, Nixon Presidential Library.

23. Frankel, Max, “President Won 49 States and 521 Electoral Votes,” New York Times, 9 November 1972Google Scholar; Prendergast, Catholic Voter in American Politics, 157–69; Hill, Gladwin, “Results on Ballot Questions a Curious Liberal-Conservative Mixture,” New York Times, 9 November 1972Google Scholar; “Strict Anti-Abortion Bill Voted by Pennsylvania Legislature,” New York Times, 21 November 1972; Farrell, William E., “State Abortion Law Critics Take Protest to Governor,” New York Times, 16 November 1972.Google Scholar

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26. Risen and Thomas, Wrath of Angels, 19–20; Lauinger, Anthony J., “Focus: Mildred Jefferson, M.D.,” National Right to Life News, January 1977, 3Google Scholar; List of National Right to Life Committee Officers and Board of Directors [1973], “NRLC 1973” folder, box 5, ACCL, Ford Library; Vic Lockman, “The Equal Rights Amendment: A Trojan Horse” (Alton, Ill., 1976), HH557, box 1B, MS 76.45, Hall-Hoag Collection, John Hay Library, Brown University, Providence; Critchlow, Donald T., Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism: A Woman’s Crusade (Princeton, 2005), 212–27Google Scholar; “Abortion and the Court,” Christianity Today, 16 February 1973, 32–33.

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30. McKeegan, Abortion Politics, 32; Steele, “1976’s Sleeper Issue,” 23; “Reagan on God and Morality,” Christianity Today, 2 July 1976, 39–40; Reinhold, Robert, “Doubts are Fading,” New York Times, 23 April 1976, 73Google Scholar; Tim Miller and Tonda Rush, “God and the GOP in Kansas City,” Christianity Today, 10 September 1976, 59.

31. “Ford Asks States’ Rule on Abortion,” Minneapolis Star, 4 February 1976; Transcript of White House Press Conference, 2 February 1976, 14–16, “President’s Position (2)” folder, Sarah C. Massengame Files, Ford Library; Naughton, James M., “Ford Says Court Went Too Far on Abortion,” Minneapolis Tribune, 4 February 1976.Google Scholar

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35. Religious News Service, “Aids ‘Defense of Life,’” Baptist Standard, 3 September 1975, 4; “Anti-Abortion: Not Parochial,” Christianity Today, 8 August 1975, 22; Reichley to Cheney, 25 June 1976.

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