The culture war’s lone survivor

The bargain between the GOP and abortion foes offers a partial answer for why the abortion war rages on, even as other cultural battles have died out between Barr’s stints as attorney general. In part, the abortion conflict remains intense because the GOP has worked closely with pro-lifers to guarantee it.

And yet, neither the antiabortion movement nor the GOP can claim complete credit for continuing polarization of the abortion conflict. Those on opposing sides still hold profoundly different views about the Constitution, and both see the issue as fundamental. In fact, in the years since Barr was last attorney general, disagreements between pro-choice and pro-life Americans have only multiplied as the two sides struggle to shape U.S. culture and law. In a quest to control the court, abortion foes have not only talked about a right to life but also made claims about the social, medical and psychological costs of ending a pregnancy.

And when dialogue turned to the costs and benefits of abortion, those on either side of the issue fought about what would be good or bad for the country. Everything from the welfare state to the meaning of maturity for teenagers to the future of health-care delivery has been sucked into the abortion wars.