Worth reposting: The Religious Right: Part Two Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (Abortion)

[Quixote1818]

Abortion wasn't even on the radar of evangelicals until the 1970's. They were looking for wedge issues to get people to vote Republican : Snip: So what changed?

In the 1970s, the pro-life position was predominantly Catholic. Before Roe, there were some liberal Protestant elements to the pro-life movement, as Daniel Williams’s book shows, but the Catholic Church was the dominant force.

By the early-mid-1970s, there was a bit of growing concern within evangelicalism. Carl F. H. Henry took a strong pro-life stance in 1971, and the National Association of Evangelicals asserted its opposition to abortion in 1971 and 1973.

But on the mass level, evangelicals were slow to join the pro-life movement. Even as late as 1979, the Baptist Joint Committee argued before a federal court that the Hyde Amendment, which restricted federal funds from being used to pay for abortions, violated the Establishment Clause because it established the Catholic religion.

It really was not until the end of the 1970s and early 1980s that conservative Christians moved decidedly in the pro-life direction. More popular groups like Baptists for Life and Christians for Life were created in the mid- to late-1970s, for example. I draw attention to Francis Schaeffer’s books and documentary films, which were popular among churches, pastors, and lay leaders. Schaeffer’s works also influenced Jerry Falwell, who helped elevate abortion activism on the national political stage. In 1980, the SBC passed an unequivocally pro-life resolution. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/evangelical-history/christian-right-discovered-abortion-rights-transformed-culture-wars/

[rurallib]

1. Thanks so much for reposting

seen it many times, yet always seem to pick up something I missed.

[JHB]

2. Can't watch right now, but the linked article leaves out something...

Evangelicals used abortion as a tool to demonize feminism -- "...but what about the baby's rights?"

This wasn't just a theological point: the 70s and 80s was also the time of the rise of televangelism and hot-button fundraising via computerized lists: They homed in on issues that would get people to send them bucks.