How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America

by Heather Cox Richardson

Nixon initially tried to steer a middle course between traditional Republicans and the party’s growing Movement Conservative faction, but his own political crisis helped boost the latter’s narrative. Worried about his chances for reelection in 1972, Nixon and his handlers decided to break off Catholics and southern voters from the Democratic Party by politicizing the issue of abortion. Until the 1970s, abortion had been seen largely as a civil rights issue, with NOW organizer Betty Friedan noting in 1969 that “there is no freedom, no equality, no full human dignity and personhood possible for women until we assert and demand the control over our own bodies.” In 1971, even the Southern Baptist Convention supported abortion rights, taking the position that life began at birth, and a Republican campaign document from 1972 revealed data showing that “a sizeable majority of Americans, including Roman Catholics, now favoring liberal abortion laws.” More Republicans than Democrats supported abortion rights, a reality reflected in the fact that the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion was written by Justice Harry Blackmun, who, like the chief justice during the case, Warren Burger, was a staunch Republican.55