In 1971, the evangelical Southern Baptist Convention agreed that abortion should be legal in some cases, and vowed to work for modernization.
By 1972, Gallup pollsters reported that 64% of Americans agreed that abortion was between a woman and her doctor. 68% of Republicans agreed.
In 1973, the Supreme Court, under Republican Chief Justice Warren Burger, in a decision written by Republican Lewis Blackmun, decided Roe v. Wade, legalizing first-trimester abortion.
So in the early 70’s, Republicans favored abortion and liked Roe v. Wade. What changed?
In 1972, Nixon was up for reelection, and he and his people were paranoid that he would lose. Nixon's handler Pat Buchanan was a Goldwater man who wanted to destroy the popular New Deal state that regulated the economy and protected social welfare and civil rights. To that end, he believed Ds and traditional Rs needed to be kept from power and Nixon had to win reelection.
Catholics, who opposed abortion and believed that "the right of innocent human beings to life is sacred," tended to vote for Democratic candidates. Buchanan (himself Catholic), urged Nixon to woo Catholic Democrats before the 1972 election over the issue of abortion.
Nixon/Buchanan Movement Conservatism wanted to dismantle the active federal government that regulated business, enforced civil rights law, and promoted social welfare. They attacked anyone who supported such a government as immoral. And with the issue of abortion, Movement Conservatives re-framed the entire scope of women's rights around a single use, and as murder, in a cynical power play.
