ABSTRACT
The Supreme Court of the United States transformed the politics of abortion in July 1989 through its decision in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, Inc. By upholding several provisions of Missouri's restrictive abortion law, the court signaled its retreat from Roe v. Wade, invited other state legislatures to further limit access to abortion, and reinvigorated a political struggle over a very emotional issue. As a general rule, the Catholic hierarchy's opposition to abortion, itself consistent, must be tailored to changing political circumstances if it is to be effective, or even credible. In particular, the bishops have to focus their antiabortion efforts on the appropriate level of politics. In the 1960s and early 1970s the bishops of various states denounced the liberalization of those states' abortion laws and mobilized the church' s resources in opposition to legal abortion. In November 1989 the bishops released Resolution on Abortion, calling abortion "fundamental human rights issue for all men and women of good will.".
