“Voodoo Demographics”: The Right-to-Life Movement Confronts the Population Establishment

Abstract

In the early 1980s, anti-abortionists experienced several important defeats, and national groups struggled to find ways to work with the Reagan administration and yet still achieve victories. The chapter explores the broadening of the right-to-life agenda and the growing anti-abortion interest in foreign policy. Pro-lifers capitalized on revelations about China’s one-child policy to offer a fiery and emotive critique of international population organizations and the uses of American aid dollars. Right-to-life leaders experienced rapid success when they experimented with new types of arguments and were more calculating about the electoral cycle. These efforts culminated in the Mexico City Policy of 1984 and the defunding of major population NGOs. In Reagan’s second term, the movement monitored the bureaucracy, Congress, and the White House to ensure that policy implementation was truly pro-life. National right-to-life groups shaped their agenda to suit Reagan’s needs, but insisted that rhetoric must be translated into action.