In the early twentieth century, opponents of contraception often perceived the promotion of birth control as part of a radical socialist movement. There was also a strong moral argument against contraception, which by the 1920s was led by Catholic prelates. Repeated attempts to persuade federal and state legislatures to overturn anticontraception laws failed, so the prelates appear, at least at first, to have been successful in their opposition. However, it is a bit strange that they would be successful, since anti-Catholicism was rampant; arguably, associating any issue with the Catholic Church at that time was almost sure to be an enormous political handicap. The failure to convince legislatures to overturn anticontraception laws is doubly puzzling given that there is considerable evidence that many Americans found accessible contraception an appealing prospect.

The history of the politics of abortion laws also has strange twists and turns. Physicians were central in the movement to outlaw most abortions in the mid– to late nineteenth century. Physicians were then central in the movement favoring moderate liberalization of abortion laws in the 1960s: These reformers and their allies convinced quite a few state legislatures that they should institute abortion law reform because abortion was not a moral issue. They had particular success convincing Southern legislatures to liberalize abortion laws, though today the South has a particularly strong pro-life movement.

The way that we think and talk about contraception and abortion seems natural to us now.