Roe Vs Wade Influence On American Politics

The Roe v. Wade decision had a profound impact on American politics, polarizing much of the nation into pro-life and pro-choice camps. Despite significant public backing in the early 1970s, there was widespread opposition, particularly among those associated with the Christian Right. The Christian evangelicals, who had largely been silent in politics before the 1960s, saw abortion as a threat to traditional values and began to organize against Roe. Members of the Republican Party’s New Right approached Jerry Falwell and encouraged him to create a “Moral Majority” organization that would mobilize conservative Christians to become politically active in the hope of capturing Congress and the White House (McKeegan 1992). United in the belief that all innocent life should be protected under the U.S. Constitution, these two groups formed an alliance that would dominate the Republican Party and revolutionize American politics.

The national Democratic Party’s ambivalent position towards abortion drove many evangelicals and fundamentalist Christians into the Republican camp, whom became an important part of the party’s base of support. Reversing a pattern of nearly forty years of official party support, the Republican Party became increasingly more pro-life while the more liberal Democratic Party became strongly pro-choice (Adams 1997). As it is seen in modern presidential races today, the polarization is almost complete. It is almost impossible for a pro-life Democrat or a pro-choice Republican to advance within the American political system. In the nation as a whole, opinion has remained consistently deadlocked, and abortion will continue to be a divisive issue in the United States for many years to