Over 154 hours of tape recordings and 30,000 pages of documents from the Nixon White House were released by The Nixon Presidential Library June 24th, 2009. The recordings offer a deeper look into the inner workings and thoughts of the controversial 37th US President.
Infamous for accidently recording himself, Nixon’s conversations cover a wide array of topics, a prominent one being the 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling. In one taping on January 23, 1973, Nixon and an unidentified aide discuss the court’s decision to legalize abortion on demand. Nixon addresses his concern that the legalization of abortion will “break the family” and his aide adds that it may promote promiscuity.
The conversation, however, does not end there. Nixon continues to state that some abortion procedures are necessary. “I know that there are times when abortions are necessary. I know that” Nixon says to his aide, “When you have a black and a white.” He also states that he excuses cases of rape.
Naturally, Nixon never made his stance on acceptable abortions in the case of a mixed-race pregnancy purposely known. Its discovery holds significant weight for the pro-life cause because it re-emphasizes the foundations of the reasoning behind abortion clinics- population control and race control.
Stemming from the eugenics movement, abortion clinics initially opened in underprivileged neighborhoods, catering to the African American population. Many Planned Parenthood supporters (and eugenicists) advocated racism in abortion proceedings. Nixon’s statement issuing his support for the abortions of mixed raced babies signifies a theme still heavily present in the abortion industry today; abortion and racism are directly linked.
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