Overview

How white nationalism and authoritarian populism have taken hold in America under the guise of opposing abortion. 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. From the Clinics to the Capitol 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.

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9780520397040

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Reviews

""A scary read, grounded in Mason’s three decades of attendance at rightwing events and perusal of scores of books, articles and pamphlets penned by anti-abortion conservatives. Her goal? To understand the ideology and motivating factors that have propelled the movement for the past half century."" * The Indypendent *

""A scary read, grounded in Mason’s three decades of attendance at rightwing events and perusal of scores of books, articles and pamphlets penned by anti-abortion conservatives. Her goal? To understand the ideology and motivating factors that have propelled the movement for the past half century."" * The Indypendent * “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.” * The Nation * “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.” * NPR's All Things Considered * “Carol Mason’s new book From the Clinics to the Capitol breaks down the political strategy of the anti-abortion movement.” * NPR's Book of the Day * “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.” * KPFA's Against the Grain *

Author Information

Carol Mason, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Otis A. Singletary Endowed Chair in the Humanities at the University of Kentucky, is author of several books about the rise of the Right since the 1960s.

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