NOW and Then: Indiana NOW, Abortion Rights, and the 1980s Culture Wars

Abstract

After the fight by the Indiana chapter of the National Organization for Women (Indiana NOW) to include the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution of the United States failed at the national level, it was thrust into a battle to protect abortion rights. During the 1980s culture wars, a period of identity politics and antifeminist movements, abortion rights became the largest issue Indiana NOW had to face. Indiana NOW utilized a strategy based on both empathy (to form an emotional motivation) and a political (or legal) strategy to combat the political Right’s attempts to eliminate women’s right to obtain a legal abortion. This thesis looks at Indiana NOW’s strategies to fight for women’s right to keep abortions safe and legal during the 1980s. Understanding Indiana NOW’s efforts throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s to combat the removal of abortion rights offers a glimpse into how we can understand feminism before, during, and after the culture wars. This understanding allows us to see the utility of and problems with the idea of “waves” of feminism.