Morning Edition host Noel King and the podcast Throughline host Rund Abdelfatah discussed the history of abortion opposition within the Evangelical Christian community. Both shows are on NPR.
Abdelfatah said that the Southern Baptist Convention passed resolutions 1971, 1974, and 1976 (Roe. V. Wade was decided in 1973) affirming a woman should have access to an abortion. At the time evangelicals considered abortion a Catholic issue.
What changed their view? Racism. In particular, desegregation. A Supreme Court ruling in 1971 pulled Evangelicals into politics. When the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of public schools, about 15 years before, and desegregation began to be enforced, white families pulled their children out of public schools and into private church academies.
That 1971 decision said that an organization that engages in racial desegregation cannot, by definition, be a charitable institution and cannot be tax-exempt. But to be affordable these schools needed the money that would now go to taxes. That pulled in such Evangelical leaders, such as Jerry Falwell.
But racism wasn’t enough to draw the general Evangelical members to the Republican Party, which was declaring itself on the side of the racists. Other issues – government overreach, women’s rights, LGBT rights, and free speech – weren’t enough of a draw either.
The search for additional reasons intensified under President Jimmy Carter because he was a Southern Baptist member, but was not conservative. The issue they found that could pull Evangelicals to the GOP was abortion. The number of abortions had begun to climb and that made Evangelicals uneasy.
In 1980 they amplified resistance to abortion and supported Reagan, who won. This sealed the deal between white Evangelicals and the GOP. And abortion is still a big draw to keep the racists in power.
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