Dollars for Life : The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment

A new understanding of the slow drift to extremes in American politics that shows how the anti-abortion movement remade the Republican Party “A timely and expert guide to one of today's most hot-button political issues.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A sober, knowledgeable scholarly analysis of a timely issue.”—Kirkus Reviews “[Ziegler's] argument [is] that, over the course of decades, the anti-abortion movement laid the groundwork for an insurgent candidate like Trump.”—Jennifer Szalai, New York Times The modern Republican Party is the party of conservative Christianity and big business—two things so closely identified with the contemporary GOP that we hardly notice the strangeness of the pairing. Legal historian Mary Ziegler traces how the anti-abortion movement helped to forge and later upend this alliance. Beginning with the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Buckley v. Valeo, right-to-lifers fought to gain power in the GOP by changing how campaign spending—and the First Amendment—work. The anti-abortion movement helped to revolutionize the rules of money in U.S. politics and persuaded conservative voters to fixate on the federal courts. Ultimately, the campaign finance landscape that abortion foes created fueled the GOP's embrace of populism and the rise of Donald Trump. Ziegler offers a surprising new view of the slow drift to extremes in American politics—and explains how it had everything to do with the strange intersection of right-to-life politics and campaign spending. A new understanding of the slow drift to extremes in American politics that shows how the antiabortion movement remade the Republican Party

“A sober, knowledgeable scholarly analysis of a timely issue.”—Kirkus Reviews

“As Mary Ziegler shows us in this incisive and important book, anti-abortion activists have shaped the GOP in ways that even they could not have anticipated. Everyone interested in the past and future of American politics should read this book.”—Laura Kalman, University of California, Santa Barbara

The modern Republican Party is the party of conservative Christianity and big business—two things so closely identified with the contemporary GOP that we hardly notice the strangeness of the pairing. Legal historian Mary Ziegler traces how the anti-abortion movement helped to forge and later upend this alliance. Beginning with the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Buckley v. Valeo, right‐to‐lifers fought to gain power in the GOP by changing how campaign spending—and the First Amendment—work. The anti-abortion movement helped to revolutionize the rules of money in U.S. politics and persuaded conservative voters to fixate on the federal courts. Ultimately, the campaign finance landscape that abortion foes created fueled the GOP’s embrace of populism and the rise of Donald Trump. Ziegler offers a surprising new view of the slow drift to extremes in American politics—and explains how it had everything to do with the strange intersection of right-to-life politics and campaign spending. A new understanding of the slow drift to extremes inAmerican politics that shows how the antiabortion movement remadethe Republican Party "A sober, knowledgeablescholarly analysis of a timely issue."-KirkusReviews "As Mary Ziegler shows us in thisincisive and important book, anti-abortion activists have shapedthe GOP in ways that even they could not have anticipated. Everyoneinterested in the past and future of American politics should readthis book."-Laura Kalman, University of California, SantaBarbara The modern Republican Party is the party ofconservative Christianity and big business-two things so closelyidentified with the contemporary GOP that we hardly notice thestrangeness of the pairing. Legal historian Mary Ziegler traces howthe anti-abortion movement helped to forge and later upend thisalliance. Beginning with the Supreme Court's landmark decision inBuckley v. Valeo, right‐to‐lifers fought to gain power inthe GOP by changing how campaign spending-and the FirstAmendment-work. The anti-abortion movement helped to revolutionizethe rules of money in U.S. politics and persuaded conservativevoters to fixate on the federal courts. Ultimately, the campaignfinance landscape that abortion foes created fueled the GOP'sembrace of populism and the rise of Donald Trump. Ziegler offers asurprising new view of the slow drift to extremes in Americanpolitics-and explains how it had everything to do with the strangeintersection of right-to-life politics and campaign spending A new understanding of the slow drift to extremes in American politics that shows how the antiabortion movement remade the Republican Party "A sober, knowledgeable scholarly analysis of a timely issue."— Kirkus Reviews "As Mary Ziegler shows us in this incisive and important book, anti-abortion activists have shaped the GOP in ways that even they could not have anticipated. Everyone interested in the past and future of American politics should read this book."—Laura Kalman, University of California, Santa Barbara The modern Republican Party is the party of conservative Christianity and big business—two things so closely identified with the contemporary GOP that we hardly notice the strangeness of the pairing. Legal historian Mary Ziegler traces how the anti-abortion movement helped to forge and later upend this alliance. Beginning with the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Buckley v. Valeo , right‐to‐lifers fought to gain power in the GOP by changing how campaign spending—and the First Amendment—work. The anti-abortion movement helped to revolutionize the rules of money in U.S. politics and persuaded conservative voters to fixate on the federal courts. Ultimately, the campaign finance landscape that abortion foes created fueled the GOP's embrace of populism and the rise of Donald Trump. Ziegler offers a surprising new view of the slow drift to extremes in American politics—and explains how it had everything to do with the strange intersection of right-to-life politics and campaign spending. A new understanding of the slow drift to extremes in American politics that shows how the anti-abortion movement remade the Republican Party A timely and expert guide to one of todays most hot-button political issues. Publishers Weekly (starred review) A sober, knowledgeable scholarly analysis of a timely issue. Kirkus Reviews [Zieglers] argument [is] that, over the course of decades, the anti-abortion movement laid the groundwork for an insurgent candidate like Trump.Jennifer Szalai, New York Times The modern Republican Party is the party of conservative Christianity and big businesstwo things so closely identified with the contemporary GOP that we hardly notice the strangeness of the pairing. Legal historian Mary Ziegler traces how the anti-abortion movement helped to forge and later upend this alliance. Beginning with the Supreme Courts landmark decision in Buckley v. Valeo , right-to-lifers fought to gain power in the GOP by changing how campaign spendingand the First Amendmentwork. The anti-abortion movement helped to revolutionize the rules of money in U.S. politics and persuaded conservative voters to fixate on the federal courts. Ultimately, the campaign finance landscape that abortion foes created fueled the GOPs embrace of populism and the rise of Donald Trump. Ziegler offers a surprising new view of the slow drift to extremes in American politicsand explains how it had everything to do with the strange intersection of right-to-life politics and campaign spending. The modern Republican Party is the party of conservative Christianity and big business-two things so closely identified with the contemporary GOP that we hardly notice the strangeness of the pairing. Legal historian Mary Ziegler traces how the antiabortion movement helped to forge and later upend this alliance. Beginning with the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Buckley v. Valeo, right-to-lifers fought to gain power in the GOP by changing how campaign spending-and the First Amendment-work. The antiabortion movement helped to revolutionize the rules of money in US politics and convinced conservative voters to fixate on the federal courts. Ultimately, the campaign finance landscape that abortion foes created fueled the GOP's embrace of populism and the rise of Donald Trump. Ziegler offers a surprising new view of the slow drift to extremes in American politics-and explains how it had everything to do with campaign spending Ziegler traces how the antiabortion movement helped to forge and later upend the alliance between conservative Christianity and big business in the modern Republican Party. Beginning with the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Buckley V. Valeo, right-to-lifers fought to gain power in the GOP by changing how campaign spending-and the First Amendment-work. The antiabortion movement helped to revolutionize the rules of money in US politics and convinced conservative voters to fixate on the federal courts. Ultimately, the campaign finance landscape that abortion foes created fueled the GOP's embrace of populism and the rise of Donald Trump. Ziegler offers a new view of the slow drift to extremes in American politics-and explains how it had everything to do with campaign spending. --Adapted from publisher description CONTENTS 7 PREFACE 9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 17 ABBREVIATIONS 19 1 The Fall of Personhood 21 2 Controlling the Court 42 3 The Price of a Nominee 78 4 The Big-Money Party 107 5 Corporate Free Speech 144 6 The Rise of Trump 181 Conclusion: Democracy in a Post-Roe America 217 NOTES 233 INDEX 321