{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/9a03fe9e-1ff0-4dcc-b3f6-50bd1f016ea4/d8530f73-101c-435c-8a36-9a7a6b2b385f?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"The Great Abortion Switcheroo","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/6195701f2eacc3a36070252a/619570bccb3c660012e3d08e.png?height=200","description":"<p>&nbsp;In the final episode of our American Histories series, Sarah Churchwell tells the incredible story of the politics of abortion during the 1970s.&nbsp;How did evangelicals go from supporting abortion to being its die-hard opponents, what did the switch have to do with the politics of race and what have been the lasting consequences for American democracy?</p><p><br></p><p>Talking Points:&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>A lot of people think that the U.S. abortion debate started in 1973 with Roe v. Wade, and that evangelical republicans have always been anti-abortion. Both assumptions are wrong.</p><ul><li>There weren’t many laws against abortion in the United States until after the Civil War.&nbsp;</li><li>After the Civil War there were large waves of migration. This led to a rise of nativism. Many early abortion laws were rooted in scientific racism and anxieties over ‘race suicide.’</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Initially, the Democrats pandered to the Catholics by taking on a more pro-life position.</p><ul><li>Evangelicals were not particularly politically active (with a brief exception in the 1920s and 30s). Republicans wanted to change this.</li><li>Roe v. Wade was fought on a right to privacy issue. Abortion was seen as a thing that white, middle class people did in their home.</li><li>Evangelical Christian magazines, even in the years immediately after Roe, tended to characterize abortion as a question of indiivdual health, family welfare, and social responsibility.&nbsp;</li><li>Yet by 1978, this had completely flipped. What happened?</li></ul><p><br></p><p>After Brown v. Board desegregated schools, a bunch of white Christians created whites-only Christian academies and claimed tax-exempt status.&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Anxiety about the federal government interfering in Christian life got caught up in itself.&nbsp;</li><li>Abortion for many became a proxy issue: it was easier (and more politically acceptable) to oppose abortion than integration.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Today the battlelines feel entrenched and we could be moving towards the repeal of Roe v. Wade.</p><ul><li>But these are not immutable dividing lines in American politics.&nbsp;</li><li>This doesn’t mean that abortion isn’t extremely important to many evangelicals: it is. But it’s important to recognize the contingency in what questions are politically central.&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Further Learning:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/11/08/how-republicans-became-anti-choice/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Sue Halpern on how Republicans became anti-choice</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">More on the origins of the religious right</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/06/20/734303135/throughline-traces-evangelicals-history-on-the-abortion-issue\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">NPR ‘Throughline’ podcast issue on evangelicals and abortion</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: </strong><a href=\"http://lrb.co.uk/talking\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>lrb.co.uk/talking</strong></a></p>","author_name":"David Runciman and Catherine Carr"}