Reagan's Abortion Law Legacy: A Historical Perspective

In May 1967, Ronald Reagan, then the Governor of California, signed the Therapeutic Abortion Act into law. This bill legalised abortion in the state in cases of rape or incest, to protect the physical or mental health of the mother, or in cases of statutory rape involving girls under 15 years of age.

Reagan's stance on abortion was ambiguous. While he supported abortion in cases where the mother's life was in danger, he also said that if there is a question as to whether there is life or death, the doubt should be resolved in favour of life.

Reagan later indicated that he would support a constitutional amendment prohibiting all abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother.

Ronald Reagan's reservations about the Therapeutic Abortion Act

Reagan's main reservation was that he felt abortion should only be allowed in cases of self-defence, i.e., when the birth of the child threatened the mother's life. He wrote:

> I could only reconcile abortion with the right of self-defence, namely the right of the mother to protect herself and her health against even her own unborn child if the birth of that child threatened her.

Reagan's other main reservation was that he felt abortion should not be allowed simply because the mother "doesn't want to be bothered". He wrote:

> I cannot accept that simply on a whim, even a mother has the right to take the life of her unborn child simply because she thinks that child will be born less than perfect or because she just doesn't want to be bothered.

Reagan also felt that psychiatrists were too willing to declare an "unwed mother-to-be" as having suicidal tendencies, which would then allow her to have an abortion under the Therapeutic Abortion Act. He wrote:

> Now, however, I have discovered some of our psychiatrists are particularly willing to declare an 'unwed mother-to-be' to have suicidal tendencies, and they do this on a five-minute diagnosis. The result is that our medical program will finance more than fifty thousand abortions of unwed mothers in the coming year on such flimsy diagnosis.

Despite these reservations, Reagan did eventually sign the Therapeutic Abortion Act into law. He did so because he felt that if 100,000 women in California were "desperate enough" to undergo illegal abortions every year, he could at least make it safer for some of them. However, he later regretted this decision, blaming the increase in abortions on doctors, who he felt had deliberately misinterpreted the law.

Reagan's letter to Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz

In 1967, Ronald Reagan, then the Governor of California, signed the Therapeutic Abortion Act into law, making California the third state in the US to liberalize its abortion laws. The Act allowed abortions before the 20th week of pregnancy in cases of rape or incest, to protect the physical or mental health of the mother, or in cases of statutory rape involving girls under 15 years of age.

Days after a Peanuts comic strip was published, featuring Linus asking Lucy, "What would happen if there were a beautiful and highly intelligent child up in heaven waiting to be born, and his or her parents decided that the two children they already had were enough?" Reagan wrote a letter to its creator, Charles Schulz, dated July 30, 1970.

Reagan wrote that Linus' question "touched a nerve" and "continues to haunt me in a very nice way" because it made him think back to the "soul-searching" he did while deciding whether or not to sign California's bill. He described what was going through his head at the time:

> The author of the legislation wanted to go all the way and simply make it a matter of personal choice and wide open. I probably did more studying on that subject at that time than on anything else before or since and finally had to tell him I would veto such a bill. I could only reconcile abortion with the right of self-defence, namely the right of the mother to protect herself and her health against even her own unborn child if the birth of that child threatened her. It has been my feeling that our religion does justify the taking of life in self-defence. I cannot accept that simply on a whim, even a mother has the right to take the life of her unborn child simply because she thinks that child will be born less than perfect or because she just doesn't want to be bothered. Well, the bill was amended to meet my demands, and I signed it into law. Now, however, I have discovered some of our psychiatrists are particularly willing to declare an 'unwed mother-to-be' to have suicidal tendencies, and they do this on a five-minute diagnosis. The result is that our medical program will finance more than fifty thousand abortions of unwed mothers in the coming year on such flimsy diagnosis.

Reagan's letter to Schulz provides a rare insight into a policymaker's thinking and a window into the origins of modern viewpoints on abortion and American political thinking more broadly.

Reagan's signing of the Therapeutic Abortion Act

In May 1967, Ronald Reagan, then the Governor of California, signed the Therapeutic Abortion Act into law. The Act allowed abortions to be carried out in cases of rape or incest, to protect the physical or mental health of the mother, or in cases of statutory rape involving girls under 15 years of age.

Reagan's signing of the Act was not without hesitation. He had previously stated that he would veto a bill that made abortion a matter of personal choice. He only agreed to sign the Act after it was amended to meet his demands. In a letter to cartoonist Charles Schulz, Reagan wrote that he could only reconcile abortion with the right of self-defence, namely the right of the mother to protect herself and her health against her unborn child if the birth of that child threatened her. He also stated that he did not accept that a mother had the right to take the life of her unborn child simply because she did not want to be bothered.

Reagan's signing of the Act was significant as it made California the third state in the union to liberalise its abortion laws. It also contributed to his reputation as a father of the modern anti-abortion movement, which helped him win the 1980 Presidential election.

Reagan's ambivalence about the Therapeutic Abortion Act

Ronald Reagan's ambivalence about the Therapeutic Abortion Act was clear from the start. In 1967, when he was Governor of California, Reagan signed the Act into law, making California the third state in the union to liberalize its abortion laws. The Act allowed abortions before the 20th week of pregnancy in cases of rape or incest, to protect the physical or mental health of the mother, or in cases of statutory rape involving girls under 15 years of age.

Reagan's reservations about the bill were well known. He described what was going through his head at the time in a letter to Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz:

> "The author of the legislation wanted to go all the way and simply make it a matter of personal choice and wide open. I probably did more studying on that subject at that time than on anything else before or since and finally had to tell him I would veto such a bill. I could only reconcile abortion with the right of self-defence, namely the right of the mother to protect herself and her health against even her own unborn child if the birth of that child threatened her. It has been my feeling that our religion does justify the taking of life in self-defence. I cannot accept that simply on a whim, even a mother has the right to take the life of her unborn child simply because she thinks that child will be born less than perfect or because she just doesn't want to be bothered."

Reagan also said that he would have preferred the bill to have been more restrictive, and that he only signed it into law because it met his demands. However, he soon came to regret his decision, as he felt psychiatrists were too willing to declare an "unwed mother-to-be" to have suicidal tendencies, and that the law would finance more than fifty thousand abortions of unwed mothers in the coming year on such flimsy diagnoses.

Indeed, just a few years later, while campaigning for the Republican nomination for President, Reagan would publicly declare that signing the 1967 Therapeutic Abortion Act was a "mistake" and that he supported overruling Roe v. Wade.

Reagan's stance on abortion when running for president

Ronald Reagan's stance on abortion evolved over time, from supporting abortion rights to becoming a father of the modern anti-abortion movement.

In 1967, Reagan, then Governor of California, signed the Therapeutic Abortion Act into law, which legalised abortion in cases where the physical or mental health of the mother was in danger, or when the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. This made California the third state in the US to liberalise its abortion laws. Reagan agonised over the bill, but ultimately decided that abortion was justifiable in cases of self-defence, namely when the birth of a child threatened the life of the mother.

However, Reagan later expressed regret about signing the bill, and, while campaigning for the Republican nomination for President in 1976, he publicly declared that signing the Therapeutic Abortion Act had been a "mistake". He also supported overruling Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a woman's constitutional right to privacy, and thus to choose whether to have abortions without excessive government restriction. Reagan's stance on abortion during his presidential campaign helped establish his reputation as a father of the modern anti-abortion movement and contributed to his victory in the 1980 election.

As President, Reagan attempted to roll back abortion rights. In 1988, he sent the "President's Pro-Life Act of 1988" to Congress, which would have prohibited federal dollars from being used to fund abortions unless the mother's life was physically endangered by carrying the fetus to term. Reagan also appointed four conservative Supreme Court Justices, including Sandra Day O'Connor, who anti-abortion campaigners feared would not overturn Roe v. Wade.

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