The State of Disunion: Regional Sources of Modern American Partisanship

5 THE POLITICAL RESURRECTION OF THE BIBLE BELT: RELIGION, MODERNIZATION, AND THE INTENSIFICATION OF ABORTION POLITICS

CHAPTER 5 THE POLITICAL RESURRECTION OF THE BIBLE BELT RELIGION, MODERNIZATION, AND THE INTENSIFICATION OF ABORTION POLITICS THE U.S. SUPREME COURT’S 1973 decision in Roev.Wade, establishing a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion, brought the issue of abortion into the national political arena. The landmark decision also launched one of the most controversial political battles of the last thirty years. Related legislative proposals in Congress began immediately. The Court handed down the decision in January; representatives cast their first vote to restrict abortion-related funding and services that spring. In the ensuing months and years, the issue galvanized voters, energized pro-life and pro-choice interest groups, began and ended the careers of individual politicians, and divided the political parties.1 Not since civil rights has an issue provoked the level of conflict, moral outrage, and political violence that has accompanied the debate over abortion. It has become the defining issue of the culture wars of the late twentieth and early twenty- first centuries. Much of the conflict has taken place literally “in the streets”—at abortion clinics and between interest groups—yet the major political parties have also become combatants in the debate. By the early 1980s, between 80 and 100 percent of all abortion-related votes in the House were being cast along party lines. By the early 1990s, the average diÅerence between the parties’ positions was regularly more than 50 percentage points.This level of partisan conflict was not THE STATE OF DISUNION 132 present at the outset of voting on abortion. As Figure 5.1 shows, party diÅerences rose gradually.2 Given the vitriol of the abortion debate and the uncompromising nature of the issues involved, it is surprising that the growth in party diÅerences occurred so slowly. Figure 5.2 illustrates average party positions over time. Both parties were originally largely resistant to abortion rights. The average Democrat was only slightly more pro-choice than the average Republican at the outset of voting on abortion. But, while the Republican Party has remained steadily opposed to abortion, the Democratic position has gradually shifted to greater support for abortion rights. Party diÅerences emerged only as the Democratic Party became more consistently pro-choice.3 In the immediate aftermath of the Court’s decision, Republicans and Democrats worked together in an attempt to limit abortions. Much like the cases of welfare and trade, though, Democrats were divided geographically on abortion 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 Year Percentage Figure 5.1 Mean Difference between Parties on All Abortion Votes, 93rd through 105th Congresses, 1973–1998 Source: Calculated from vote data provided by Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal at voteview.com. 133 THE POLITICAL RESURRECTION OF THE BIBLE BELT rights. Republicans, too, were divided geographically, although to a much lesser extent. As the geographic centers of the parties shifted and weakened the intraparty divisions, partisanship increased. By the end of the 1980s, a 50-point gap separated the two party positions. Partisanship had become the norm. Both sides in the abortion debate, pro-life and pro-choice, claim fundamental rights as the basis for their position: the right of the fetus or life of the unborn versus the right of a woman to privacy and reproductive freedom. Although the positions are seemingly so irreconcilable that the contest has been called“the clash of absolutes,”4 neither national party entered the fray with the ideological clarity and unity one would expect concerning an issue cast in terms of such stark alternatives. They started instead from regional positions. Pacific Coast and northern lawmakers on the whole were more supportive of the prochoice position than southern and western lawmakers. Over the course of three Mean Index of Support Year 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 Democrats Republicans Figure 5.2 Mean Party Support for Abortion Rights, 93rd through 105th Congresses, 1973–1998 Source: Calculated from roll call data. THE STATE OF DISUNION 134 decades, the Democratic Party shifted from moderate opposition to ardent support of abortion rights as the regions favoring this position became dominant within the party. While Republicans have been more uniform in their opposition to abortion rights, the...