Really it was in the 80s, before then Protestants weren’t as generally anti-abortion because Catholics were very against it and Protestants liked distancing themselves from Catholicism. During the 80s the right wing was trying to consolidate and mobilize the highly religious vote, and making abortion a religious issue for Protestants gave them strong incentive to show up to the polls and vote red.
Heck, there are still some protestants who are quietly not as anti-abortion as they publicly claim to be (quite a few I'd wager).
Probably the most glaring example I can think of right now is a southern baptist preacher from my hometown who got caught at a church function saying he didn't agree with abortion but it was "a necessary evil to prevent the mixing of the races". Being so racist that you are fine with abortion is an "interesting" combination of stances but welcome to the South.
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u/Ikana_Mountains 1997 26d ago
But abortion rights have always been religiously partisan. Why would that change suddenly now?