Prudence Flowers

In 1971, anti-abortion leaders in the United States came together to establish a new national organization, Americans United for Life (AUL). In its first year, AUL struggled to put ecumenism into practice and deliberated over how best to spread its message. After months of often-bitter debate, right-to-lifers in AUL chose compromise over absolutism and education over protest. They positioned themselves within the secular rather than the theological realm and rejected emotive, ideological, or partisan appeals. They envisaged an anti-abortion activism that could transcend religious and political divisions, believing that only this approach would facilitate the growth of a truly mass right-to-life citizenry.

In the United States in the late-nineteenth century, the national Woman's Christian Temperance Union engaged in political activities that served to challenge and undermine notions of separate spheres and 'true womanhood.' Under the leadership of Frances Willard, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union became involved in both third-party politics and the labour movement. The WCTU's relations with the Prohibition Party and the Knights of Labor were explicitly conceived of as a means of gaining access to power and influence, and yet neither alliance relied upon the rhetoric of womanly virtues or advanced female morality for justification. This group of 'domestic feminists' did not seem to view themselves as excluded from direct engagement in politics, and nor did they appear to see these encroachments into the masculine sphere as damaging to their femininity.

The victory of Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election was a victory for a new form of US political conservatism that emphasized both social and economic issues. Abortion was paramount among these new social issues, and opponents of abortion supported Reagan with the belief that he would work vigorously to overturn Roe v. Wade. Less than six months after Reagan’s inauguration, the national anti-abortion movement was vociferously condemning the President over the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court. This article explores the nature of the passionate reaction to O’Connor and the fragility of the coalition that opposed her. Anti-abortionists were deeply troubled by the realization that their access and symbolic capital did not translate into influence, and were shocked that abortion was not a litmus test for their ‘pro-life President.' The article argues that the relationship between the right-to-life movement, the Reagan administration, and the Republican Party was often fraught, contested, and precarious. In Reagan’s first year in office, the place of the right-to-life movement in the new conservatism of the 1980s was remarkably uncertain.

This book offers a political, ideological, and social history of the national right-to-life movement in the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan. It analyzes anti-abortion engagement with the legislative, judicial, and executive branches, and offers what is frequently a narrative of disappointment and factionalism. The chapters explore pro-life responses to Supreme Court vacancies, attempts to pass a constitutional amendment, and broader legislative and bureaucratic strategies, including successful campaigns against international and domestic family planning programs. The book suggests that the 1980s transformed the anti-abortion cause, limiting the types of ideas and approaches possible at a national level. Although the movement later claimed Reagan as a "pro-life hero," while he was President right-to-lifers continuously struggled with the gap between his words and deeds. They also had a fraught relationship with the broader Republican Party. This book charts the political education of right-to-lifers, offering insights into social movement activism and conservatism in the late twentieth century.