Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
An NPR Book of the Day
"An extremely important work that sheds light on the current status… of the antiabortion movement and its relationship to other right-wing movements in ways no other work does. This is brilliant."—Carole Joffe, coauthor of After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe but Not Abortion
From the Clinics to the Capitol breaks down the political strategy of the anti-abortion movement and the ties between the movement and white nationalism.
Antiabortion stories, images, and policies have primed Americans to embrace attitudes and politics once deemed extreme. Abroad, US antiabortion tactics, personnel, and funds have contributed to a global rise of the Right.
This book is a scholar’s story of why and how abortion foes join other militants in waging war against the federal government. Reflecting on her thirty years of analyzing the intersections of race, reproduction, and right-wing movements, Carol Mason examines primary antiabortion sources that influenced political currents of the last fifty years. From Cold War conspiracism and apocalyptic fundamentalism to anti-statist terrorism, Tea Party populism, and MAGA insurrection, opposing abortion has come to imperil democracy worldwide.
“For decades, Mason had studied writings by anti-abortion and right-wing extremists who fantasized about taking down the federal government. . . . After getting her sister’s message, Mason realized she had the subject for her next book: how the history of the anti-abortion movement shed light on what happened that day at the Capitol.”
“Mason is a humanities professor who's written several books on extremist movements and reproductive politics, so she's become a local authority on the matter. But during the first year of the first Trump administration, Mason noticed a change in rhetoric, particularly with anti-abortion groups. Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land in 2017, but the movement had taken on a new directive.”
“Carol Mason’s new book From the Clinics to the Capitol breaks down the political strategy of the anti-abortion movement.”
“The anti-abortion movement has deeply shaped our era, and not just because of the repeal of Roe v Wade. As scholar of the right Carol Mason argues, it also helped provide a gateway to the growth of the authoritarian right by normalizing violent rhetoric and political violence, while exporting ideas and tactics to the right.”
“[Mason] analyzes the writings of two prominent antiabortion militants and argues that their extreme acts should not be viewed in isolation but as part of larger white supremacist, anti-statist movements. This book could be used in a graduate or upper-level undergraduate course in women and gender studies or political science.”
“A longtime scholar of anti-abortion extremism, Mason presents a nuanced understanding of how the radical positions of the far right became mainstream under the guise of opposing abortion. . . . Scholars interested in contemporary struggles over gender, race, religion, and democracy may also find [this] book valuable for [it's] specific contributions.”
“A super smart, long-view explanation of movement development across decades and arenas. . . . A mechanism-rich account of how a move- Mobilization ment builds a moral economy that licenses escalation . . . and how it routes tactics and sensibilities into broader right-wing projects. If you study social movements and you want a sharper picture of the right’s current landscape, this book will repay your careful reading.”
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Stormy Weather
I. Victims
1. Protecting Women from Abortion around the World
2. Vulnerable Guise and Racial Demise
II. Warriors
3. Radicalization and Race in Women's Pro-Life Writing
4. Lone Wolves, Abortion Abolitionists, and the Men Who Penned Them
Conclusion: Locals and Kings
Acknowledgments
Notes
Works Cited
Index