
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when conservatives proposed and voted for bills to enshrine a woman’s right to choose. What flipped them and why?
After Brown v. Board of Education passed, Southern white folks began moving their kids to private Christian schools to avoid having their children attend public schools with Black children. When the Supreme Court declared these “segregation academies” unconstitutional, Southern whites needed another way to legalize their racism. The political strategist Paul Weyrich showed them how.
In the 1970s, Southern whites were not heavily involved in politics. When segregation was no longer a hot-button issue that would turn out their vote, Weyrich turned to abortion. Using four close elections with Democratic incumbents and anti-abortion Republicans as an experiment, Weyrich was about to galvanize the southern, conservative, evangelical base.
After these elections, conservative political strategists began using this to form “the moral majority” to advance conservative social values and get their base to vote. Abortion became the acceptable new wedge issue since racism and segregation were off the table.
Some would have you believe anti-choice is about preserving the lives of unborn children. Yet, when you check the facts and history, racism has informed a lot of the rhetoric and strategy. Plain and simple.