religious groups. Groups arose that were focused
specifically on abortion, such as Operation Rescue,
founded in 1986 by Randall Terry. These groups
had their roots in more general evangelical and
Protestant Fundamentalist organizations led by well-
known pro-life advocates such as Jerry Falwell, the
founder of the Moral Majority. Many of these groups
picketed women’s health care clinics across the
United States, as well as conducting mass protests
against abortion.
Roman Catholic bishops, following the official
teaching of the Church, condemned abortion and
lobbied in Washington, D.C., for laws to prohibit
abortion or at least to make abortions more diffi-
cult to obtain. However, in 1983, Catholics for a
Free Choice took out a full-page ad inThe New York
Timesdeclaring that there was a diversity of beliefs
about abortion within the Roman Catholic Church.
Signed by hundreds of lay Catholics, as well as by
clergy and religious, the ad set off a divisive argu-
ment in the Church that affected not just Catholi-
cism but American politics as well.
The Religious Right started to target pro-choice
political candidates for defeat. Pro-life candidates,
similarly, were targeted by the Left. For many voters,
politicians’ stands on abortion became a test of
whether they were qualified to hold public office.
When Geraldine Ferraro, a Roman Catholic from
New York, was nominated as the first woman vice-
presidential candidate in 1984, she was criticized
by her own church for being pro-choice. Supreme
Court nominees were vetted based on their stand on
abortion. Robert H. Bork was nominated for the
Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 but was
not confirmed by the U.S. Senate, based in part on
his belief that there was no constitutionally pro-
tected right to abortion.
The connection between abortion and religion in
American politics set off a national debate on the re-
lationship between church and state that would lastThe Eighties in America Abortion 3
Dr. Lynn Negus, left, holds up pro-abortion-rights signs, as Debbie Thyfault protests abortion outside a clinic in Torrance, California, in
1985.(AP/Wide World Photos)