BEFORE ROE V. WADE
By the late s, Richard Viguerie and other Republican architects of the
New Right had begun to focus on abortion as an issue around which to build
party discipline in Congress.
Viguerie and Paul Weyrich (of the Heritage Foun-
dation) created a “pro-life” political action committee (PAC) designed to capture
congressional seats for conservatives in the general election.
rolling pin and charge”); BEVERLY LAHAYE, WHO BUT A WOMAN? , () (connecting
the ERA with abortion, child care, and gay rights).
Richard Viguerie’s increasing effort to make abortion a central part of the New Right agenda is
visible in the growing attention devoted to the subject throughout the s by Conservative Digest,
a magazine that he founded in . See Richard A. Viguerie, From the Publisher, CONSERVATIVE
DIG., May , at (inaugural issue). Initially, the magazine all but ignored abortion, with only three
explicit references in the first volume, which spanned May to December . In one article, Ronald
Reagan praises a family for adopting special-needs children “[a]t a time when some people think you
should be able to terminate a pregnancy with . . . ease.” Ronald Reagan, The Amazing Debolts, CON-
SERVATIVE DIG., Sept. , at . One article disapprovingly quotes the First Lady’s remarks in sup-
port of abortion rights, Speak for Yourself, Mrs. Ford, CONSERVATIVE DIG., Oct. , at , -,
and a writer profiles the Cleveland, Ohio National Right to Life Committee, Sally Lockwood, Facing
Reality on Abortion, CONSERVATIVE DIG., Sept. , at , -. The absence of antiabortion
rhetoric is just as revealing, as in The Best of Ronald Reagan, a series of quotes categorized by political
issues. The Best of Ronald Reagan, CONSERVATIVE DIG., Dec. , at , -.
B
contrast, volume of the magazine, spanning January to December , mentions
abortion in almost every issue, usually more than once. The January and February issues alone
outstrip the number of references in . See Daniel Dickinson, Pro-Lifers Shock Political Pundits,
CONSERVATIVE DIG., Jan. , at ; Connaught Marshner, HEW Funds Abortions, Promiscuity,
CONSERVATIVE DIG., Jan. , at ; Nathan J. Muller, One-Issue Groups Educate Congress, CON-
SERVATIVE DIG., Jan. , at . For coverage of pro-life politics in the issues of Conservative
Digest, see infra note .
For discussion of the new significance of PACs in the aftermath of Watergate-related campaign
finance reform and the role that Viguerie and Weyrich played in experimenting with abortion as a
theme for fundraising in the and elections, see WILLIAMS, supra note , at -. In
February , Richard Viguerie’s Conservative Digest magazine profiled Paul Brown, who, with his
wife, Judy, split with the National Right to Life Committee to create the Right to Life PAC and, later,
the Life Amendment PAC and the American Life League. The New Right: A Special Report, CON-
SERVATIVE DIG., June , at , (crediting Paul Brown with “making the pro-life movement a
sophisticated political force,” which by “had become powerful enough to provide the margin of
victory” in state and national races, when “[i]n the years immediately after the Supreme Court’s
pro-abortion decision, anti-abortion Americans were, to put it frankly, politically naive”); The Pro-
Life Movement, CONSERVATIVE DIG., Feb. , at (interviewing Paul Brown and touching on
the importance of single-issue groups to the New Right coalition); The Right Side, CONSERVATIV E
DIG., July , at (noting the founding of the American Life Lobby); The Right Side, CONSERVA-
TIVE DIG., Apr. , at , (listing congressmen and senators targeted by the Life Amendment
PAC). See generally PAIGE, supra note , at - (describing Judy Brown and Paul Brown’s collabo-
ration with Viguerie and Paul Weyrich in establishing the Life Amendment PAC and the American
Life League); id. at - (describing Paul Weyrich’s role in forming Americans for Life, a campaign
finance organization with a project called “Stop the Babykillers,” whose “purpose . . . was to kick off
the New Right’s six-year plan to capture as many congressional seats as possible for conservatives by
defeating Senators George McGovern, Frank Church, Birch Bayh and John Culver as well as other
big-name liberals”). The February Conservative Digest features a cartoon depicting a woman beat-
ing “politicians” over the head with a rolling pin labeled “Right-to-Life Movement.” Cartoon, CON-
SERVATIVE DIG., Feb. , at . In March, an article notes that “[t]he true litmus test [of loyalty]