Sections
Log in
Top News
U.S. News World News Featured Voices
Odd News
Entertainment
Movies Music TV
Sports
Soccer NFL NBA MLB
Photos
News Entertainment Sports Features
More...
Defense Featured Science Health Video Archive Almanac
About Feedback Privacy Policy
About Feedback Privacy Policy
Search
Trending
Julie Ertz
LeBron James
Meteor shower
Cop charged
Presidents Cup
Ford recall
William Barr
NYC stabbing
Winter storm
Taylor Swift
Supreme Court
Voices
June 6, 2019 / 10:22 AM

Women have been the heart of the Christian right for decades

By
Emily Suzanne Johnson, Ball State University
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is pictured signing the state's Human Life Protection Act, which severely restricts abortion, into law on May 15. Photo courtesy of Alabama Governor's Office
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is pictured signing the state's Human Life Protection Act, which severely restricts abortion, into law on May 15. Photo courtesy of Alabama Governor's Office | License Photo

June 6 (UPI) -- Alabama's new abortion restrictions were signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey. But more has been said recently about the fact that the bill was passed by 25 white men in the state Senate. Media reports have pointed to how this law will disproportionately affect black and poor women.

Only four women serve in Alabama's state Senate. Three voted against the bill, while one abstained.

In response to the Alabama vote, Democratic state Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison compared men's votes on abortion legislation to "a dentist making a decision about heart surgery."

"That's why we need more women in office," Coleman-Madison said.

RELATED Wisconsin Senate passes four abortion-restricting bills

Across the country, women are underrepresented in legislatures. But the question is: Would voting more women into office necessarily shift the politics of abortion?

Conservative women's activism

My book, This Is Our Message, examines the history of women's leadership in the modern religious right. When this movement emerged in the late 1970s, women were at the forefront. They helped shape the rhetoric of "family values," which has included opposition to abortion, feminism and same-sex marriage.

RELATED HHS halts federal research using human fetal tissue

These women's contributions, however, are often overlooked.

My research shows that in the 1980s, news reports usually credited conservative men with leading the Christian right. Prominent voices included televangelist Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, who helped found the Moral Majority, a conservative Christian political lobbying group, in 1979.

But women also led the movement. Phyllis Schlafly is best known among these women for her fight against the Equal Rights Amendment, which would have outlawed gender discrimination in any law at the local, state or national level. In the early 1970s, the amendment passed through Congress with bipartisan support. Ratification by the states seemed all but certain.

RELATED Fate of Missouri's last abortion clinic in the hands of a judge

Then Schlafly mobilized hundreds of thousands of women against the amendment. They argued that it would make women subject to the military draft and that it would eliminate laws designed to protect women in the workplace and in divorce proceedings. They also raised the possibility of consequences that seemed alarming at the time but are familiar today, including same-sex marriage and gender-neutral public bathrooms.

These women lobbied their representatives, protested in state legislatures and wrote letters to the editors of local and national newspapers. In 1982, the amendment failed, lacking sufficient support from the states.

Schlafly was not the only female leader of the religious right in this era. In the late 1970s, pop singer Anita Bryant galvanized a sweeping backlash against the gay rights movement. When her local Miami-Dade County passed anti-discrimination protections for gay residents in 1977, Bryant led a successful repeal effort. She then lent her celebrity status and experience to similar fights nationwide.

Two years later, Beverly LaHaye founded Concerned Women for America, which is now the largest lobbying group in the country representing conservative women. Since its founding, the group has organized millions of women across the country to lobby for socially conservative legislation at the local, state and national levels.

Women have also formed the backbone of socially conservative activism at the grass-roots level for over half a century. They have written newsletters from their homes and hosted coffee meetings to mobilize their neighbors. They have organized demonstrations and letter-writing campaigns on issues ranging from school curricula to LGBTQ rights to abortion.

The abortion debate

Abortion has been a key issue for conservative women since the 1970s, just as it has been for women on the left. For activists on both sides, this is a core women's issue.

But on each side of the debate, activists rely on fundamentally different assumptions about women and women's interests.

For women who oppose abortion, it is an atrocity that women are especially well suited to address. They argue that women's maternal instincts make them naturally oppose the procedure. For pro-choice women, abortion access is a basic right that all women must have. They argue that legal abortion is a matter of trusting women and respecting their bodily autonomy.

Many women who oppose abortion believe that women's voices are necessary to effectively counter the feminist position.

Support for Trump

The female governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey, who signed the abortion bill into law, is a conservative evangelical who has been vocal about her hope to limit abortion access in Alabama. She has also said that it is time for the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision that decriminalized abortion in the United States.

Ivey is representative of a larger movement of conservative women who passionately oppose abortion. White evangelical women voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2016. The issue of abortion played a major role in their choice. At the time, an empty Supreme Court seat was at play, and Trump promised to appoint an anti-abortion justice.

Concerned Women for America and other conservative women's groups actively supported the nomination of Neil Gorsuch and then Brett Kavanaugh as Supreme Court justices.

Yet, from my perspective, conservative women are being written out of the story again.

Responding to the passage of the Alabama abortion law, Democratic presidential hopeful Kirsten Gillibrand said: "Donald Trump has declared a war on America's women. And if it's a fight he wants to have, it's a fight he's going to have, and it's a fight he's going to lose."

Gillibrand's statement -- which fails to acknowledge the role of conservative women in the abortion battle -- echoes the rhetoric of the anti-Trump women's movement. Yet it repeats a pattern of discounting conservative women.The Conversation

Emily Suzanne Johnson is an assistant professor of history at Ball State University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

  • Topics
  • Phyllis Schlafly
  • Pat Robertson
  • Jerry Falwell
  • Donald Trump
  • Kirsten Gillibrand
  • Neil Gorsuch
  • Brett Kavanaugh
  • Google
  • Supreme Court

Latest Headlines

When major economies launch cryptocurrencies, it will kick off global revolution
Voices // 1 day ago
When major economies launch cryptocurrencies, it will kick off global revolution
Dec. 13 (UPI) -- One of the hottest topics in cryptocurrencies is the prospect of major economies launching state-backed digital coins. China's central bank recently accelerated plans for the Digital Currency Electronic Payment.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador is failing to contain Mexico violence
Voices // 2 days ago
Andrés Manuel López Obrador is failing to contain Mexico violence
Dec. 12 (UPI) -- When Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was sworn into office in December 2018 he promised swift action to stem the bloody crime wave that has ravaged the country in recent years.

The Afghanistan mess: Failure is no surprise
Voices // 3 days ago
The Afghanistan mess: Failure is no surprise
A secret and highly critical government report on the seemingly endless war in Afghanistan shows the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations were lied to and lied about the intervention. It is no surprise.

Risk rooted in inequality weighs on Bahamas' efforts to rebuild
Voices // 4 days ago
Risk rooted in inequality weighs on Bahamas' efforts to rebuild
Dec. 10 (UPI) -- When Hurricane Dorian made landfall on Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas on Sept. 1, it packed winds of up to 185 mph and a 20-foot storm surge. A day later, it ravaged Grand Bahama for 24 hours.

Digital economy's environmental footprint threatens the planet
Voices // 5 days ago
Digital economy's environmental footprint threatens the planet
Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Modern society has given significant attention to the promises of the digital economy over the past decade. But it has given little attention to its negative environmental footprint.

Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan key to U.S. interests in Central Asia
Voices // 1 week ago
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan key to U.S. interests in Central Asia
Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A geostrategic opportunity is opening for America in how Washington can advance the U.S. interests in a quickly shifting landscape in Central Asia. Two countries, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, will play a key role.

Young protesters in Iran, Iraq will not be cowed
Voices // 1 week ago
Young protesters in Iran, Iraq will not be cowed
Dec. 5 (UPI) -- More than 1,000, mostly young, protesters have been murdered by Iran's theocratic fascist regime in the past two weeks, with more than 4,000 injured and 12,000 arrested.

NATO must recognize Russia as political, economic threat
Voices // 1 week ago
NATO must recognize Russia as political, economic threat
LONDON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- This week, NATO heads of state and government gather at the Grove Hotel, the former estate of the dukes of Clarendon outside London, for a summit marking the alliance's 70th anniversary.

Growing Christian movement agrees with Rick Perry that God chose Donald Trump
Voices // 1 week ago
Growing Christian movement agrees with Rick Perry that God chose Donald Trump
Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A large number of evangelical Christians in the United States believe that God has chosen Donald Trump to advance the kingdom of God on Earth. Several high-profile religious leaders have made similar claims.

Iran uprising recalls bloody parallels with Hungary
Voices // 1 week ago
Iran uprising recalls bloody parallels with Hungary
Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Iran's nationwide uprising has dark and bloody parallels with the Hungarian uprising of 1956, when tens of thousands of students, leaderless at first, took to the streets of Budapest and were fired on by state police.

Trending Stories

Wintry storm to unleash snow, ice, rain over 2,000-mile stretch of U.S.
Wintry storm to unleash snow, ice, rain over 2,000-mile stretch of U.S.
Judge rejects a delay in House lawsuit against William Barr, Wilbur Ross
Judge rejects a delay in House lawsuit against William Barr, Wilbur Ross
NYC police arrest 13-year-old in stabbing death of college student
NYC police arrest 13-year-old in stabbing death of college student
2 dead in Russian aircraft carrier fire
2 dead in Russian aircraft carrier fire
On This Day: President Obama accepts Nobel Peace Prize
On This Day: President Obama accepts Nobel Peace Prize

Photo Gallery

 
Daisy Ridley, John Boyega attend 'Star Wars' premiere in Tokyo
Daisy Ridley, John Boyega attend 'Star Wars' premiere in Tokyo

Latest News

Google Earth now covers more than 98 percent of the populated world
Samoan government extends state of emergency amid measles outbreak
Joe Biden announces gun safety plan on anniversary of Sandy Hook shooting
Appeals court blocks Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban
Judge orders Wisconsin to purge over 200,000 from voter rolls
 
Back to Article
/
Back to top
About UPI Contact Feedback Advertisements Submit News Tips
Copyright © 2019 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of UsePrivacy Policy