What strategies did liberals use to fight the conservative turn?
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Figure false: The Abortion Debate
Figure false: After the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, several states enacted restrictions on abortion. In 1989, the Supreme Court upheld a Missouri law prohibiting public employees from performing abortions except to save a woman’s life. The law also banned abortions in public buildings and required physicians to perform viability tests on the fetus after twenty weeks. Here, activists on both sides rally before the Supreme Court. AP Images/Ron Edmonds.
CHRONOLOGY
1981
- – Researchers discover AIDS virus.
- – Sandra Day O’Connor becomes first woman Supreme Court justice.
1984
- – Retirement Equity Act is passed.
1988
- – Civil Rights Restoration Act is passed over Reagan’s veto.
THE RISE OF CONSERVATISM put liberal social movements on the defensive, as the government moved away from the national commitment to equal opportunity undertaken in the 1960s and the president’s federal court appointments reflected that shift. Feminists and minority groups fought to keep protections they had recently won, and the gay and lesbian rights movement grew.