Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War

by William Saletan

In his gripping, behind-the-scenes account, journalist William Saletan reveals exactly how, thirty years after Roe v. Wade, "pro-choice" conservatives have won the abortion war. Having successfully turned abortion into a privacy issue, conservatives now prevail on issues ranging from abortion's legality and parental notification to Medicaid, rape, and cloning; consequently, reproductive autonomy is now becoming inaccessible to the young and the poor. This eye-opening exposé tells how abortion rights activists—people who desired social change, women's equality, and broader access to health care—have had their message co-opted in a culture of privacy and limited government. Bearing Right is also a story about the essentially conservative character of the United States today.

Saletan tells how, beginning in Arkansas in 1986 during the administration of Governor Bill Clinton, the National Abortion Rights Action League repackaged the abortion issue to give it broader appeal to conservatives. Pro-choice conservatives adopted this new rhetoric and made the abortion issue their own. Saletan takes us through the key events in the ensuing story—the fight over the nomination of Judge Robert Bork, the election of Governor Doug Wilder in Virginia, the convergence of the Bush and Clinton positions on abortion in 1992, and much more—right up to the present day.

This book is a crucial lesson in how politicians and interest groups can change the way we vote, not by telling us facts or lies, but by reshaping the way we think—in part through mass marketing. Today, the abortion rights movement must ask itself what it has won and what it is fighting for. This book is sure to play a role in answering that question.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Feminism

327 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

William Saletan is the national correspondent at Slate.com. He gained recognition in the fall of 2004 with his nearly daily columns covering the ups and downs of the Presidential race. He currently writes the "Human Nature" column. Previously, he wrote "Frame Game," which analyzed the way current events are spun by politicians and the media and "Ballot Box," a column devoted to politics and policy.

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to review. It is dense, at times too dense, and yet there is absolutely nothing the author could have left out in order to explain the depressing political history of abortion from the mid-80s to the Bush era. Depressing is really the most appropriate word for this book--it is page after page of both sides throwing the baby out with the bathwater (sorry, no pun intended) as they try to further abortion rights or chip away at them. Each side is always a maneuver away from winning, and no one ever seems to look ahead any farther than that. Thus, a circular story is told here of two steps forward, three steps back for legal abortion in the United States. The book made me feel like a pawn in the hands of people claiming to speak for me--since, as usual, those who lose out the most in this struggle are low-income individuals and women of color. While hard to get through, it is an important preface to the now full-blown "War on Women"--and a testament to the need for grassroots protest, action, and support for abortion access on demand, without apology, for all individuals everywhere. We can't leave it in the hands of the political players anymore.

[Jolynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and detailed account of US politics around abortion from mid-1980’s through late 1990’s - primarily following the legal and political events in the wake of the Webster decision. This account is even more interesting to consider in the post-Dobbs world - a look back at the way states and politicians construed Webster and its implications for Roe and the political compromises that occurred as different groups battled to keep abortion legal (and expand access to poor women and young women) or, on the other side, pursued the eradication of abortion across the country. Saletan describes a spectrum from abolitionists or anti-abortion (prolife) purists, to prolife pragmatists, to ProChoice conservatives, to prochoice pragmatists, to prochoice activists (or purists). He recounts the involvement of well-known consultants like NC’s Harrison Hickman in the development of strategies to secure votes from unlikely demographics. And he explores the costs associated with allowing a message to be altered for the sake of votes. Major topics covered include: issues around the federal and state funding of abortion (and welfare), parental notification and consent laws, rape and incest exemptions to abortion bans, “partial birth” abortion laws and unborn victims of violence laws. Published in 2003 but remains highly relevant to this post-Dobbs moment.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book molded my pro-life views more then any other book on the subject that I have read.

[Ke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book interesting because of its topic and how the writer portrayed the different sides' tactics. Some parts read like an epic.