Member-only story
A Brief History of the Politicization of Abortion in the U.S.
How Church & State Merged
If the U.S. Supreme Court really overturns Roe v Wade, which made abortion a constitutional right, then it will reveal how deep-rooted the Christian Right’s influence over U.S. politics is.
In order to understand this division, we have to look at when the Republican Party started utilizing abortion to their political advantage. Only then will we know why the Christian Right has so much power over U.S. politics.
Many of us might wonder why the U.S. has such a difficult time separating church and state. We look at other developed nations and see a steady decline of religious affairs in politics and public life.
In order to explain Evangelicalism’s deep roots in the U.S., we have to go as far as the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. Frances FitzGerald explains in The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America, that it was the Constitution that “created a marketplace of religion, giving all denominations and sects an incentive to increase their flocks, and beginning a process that made America the most religious country in the developed world.”
More than 200 years ago, the U.S. was marked by a tremendously influential Evangelical community. Christians “dominated” all cultural institutions…
