There is an intriguing parallel between the right-wing's opposition to abortion rights and its crusade to prevent gun control, at least when it comes to the history of those movements in the United States. Most Republicans are reliably anti-abortion and pro-gun — and depend on specific historical narratives to vindicate those positions. Gun rights advocates regularly cite the Constitution, pointing to a modern interpretation of the Second Amendment that they present as the only "correct" view. In the case of the anti-abortion movement, they operate from the premise that contemporary moral arguments against terminating a pregnancy are simply part of a continuity with longstanding political and religious traditions.

The realities are much, much more nuanced. With regard to abortion rights it begins, as sociologist and reproductive rights activist Carole Joffe told Salon by email, with a "determined minority" in the second half of the 20th century — one that was bent on stigmatizing abortion. As states continue to roll back abortion rights and the Supreme Court prepares to overturn Roe v. Wade — the landmark decision in 1973 that limited government restrictions on pregnant women's bodily choices — it is valid to ask how the anti-abortion movement has managed to be so successful, and so closely tied with the right.