re: #89 austin_blue

PP was never associated with abortion services prior to RvW. It became something of a lightning rod after Nixon initiated the Southern Strategy in 1968 and RvW was ruled in the early 70’s. PP became an easy target for the Gaspers.

From the interview:

By the late 1960s, Richard Nixon was pushing Congress to increase federal funding for family planning. In 1970, he signed Title X into law. The bill provided federal government funds for family planning services. A year later, Nixon reversed his position on Title X, after his advisers suggested he could divide the Democratic Party by taking a strong stand against abortion services. (Though abortion was illegal at the time, some restrictions had been lifted and it could be performed, in some cases, on military bases.)

“He begins talking about the sanctity of human life, and he then opposes Title X funding as part of his campaign to court Catholic voters when he runs for re-election,” says Lepore.

Nixon was re-elected in 1972. A year later, the Supreme Court issued its key ruling on abortion, Roe v. Wade. Lepore says she decided to focus on the years before Roe v. Wade in her piece because she was able to track how issues like birth control and abortion became partisan over the years.

And my understanding that Goldwater’s support for PP was well before Rove v. Wade, not after?