Can one be a pro-choice social conservative?

[world.execute(me)]

T o m i  L a h r e n

She's garbage, though.

Not any more then your average Conservative "news" personality.

[Technocracy Timmy]

I'm a pro life social liberal.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

It's possible.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

T o m i  L a h r e n

She's garbage, though.

Not any more then your average Conservative "news" personality.

Point being that one oughtn't build their ideological house on a foundation of garbage bricks.

[Antonio the Sixth]

T o m i  L a h r e n

She's garbage, though.

Not any more then your average Conservative "news" personality.

In other words, she's garbage.

[darklordoftech]

When Reagan was Governor of California, he liberalized California's abortion laws and made California the first no-fault divorce state in America, but he was considered socially conservative at the time for his views on civil rights, school busing, hippies, anti-war protests, and law and order. It was only when Reagan embraced the religious right in 1980 that abortion became the litmus test for social conservatism.

Also, I'm sure anyone who supports eugenics is socially conservative.

[vanguard96]

Yes. Maybe some people are personally against it themselves but would not want to have the government ban it outright. You could say, 'I am pro-choice but do not support it being government funded' or 'I only support it until 12 weeks in the pregnancy' or some time period of viability.

Provided one was also fitting the typecast then that person could be a social conservative - they just wouldn't score highly on the Susan B Anthony checklist. If they were not running for office then there's no reason why their stance on one policy would lead them to be ostracized from everyone. They would still be demonized by the left for not supporting public funding of Planned Parenthood so in the end it does not really matter too much.

[Goldwater]

When Reagan was Governor of California, he liberalized California's abortion laws and made California the first no-fault divorce state in America, but he was considered socially conservative at the time for his views on civil rights, school busing, hippies, anti-war protests, and law and order. It was only when Reagan embraced the religious right in 1980 that abortion became the litmus test for social conservatism.

Also, I'm sure anyone who supports eugenics is socially conservative.

Wasn't eugenics a product of the "progressive" era?

[vanguard96]

When Reagan was Governor of California, he liberalized California's abortion laws and made California the first no-fault divorce state in America, but he was considered socially conservative at the time for his views on civil rights, school busing, hippies, anti-war protests, and law and order. It was only when Reagan embraced the religious right in 1980 that abortion became the litmus test for social conservatism.

Also, I'm sure anyone who supports eugenics is socially conservative.

Wasn't eugenics a product of the "progressive" era?

Nixon likewise allowed for expansion of those rights while president. Some say it was appeasement to the youth and to blacks following the riots in Detroit, LA, Newark and so on. He of course was overall socially conservative.

The eugenics movement of the early 20th century attracted those who believed in scientific racism including people who advocated issues on the surface that were liberal in some respects towards women's issues, sexuality, and free speech. However, the movement in the US at its extremes inspired the Nazis campaign for extermination.

While Margaret Sanger and others maintained it was 'negative eugenics' which promoted behavior that would reduce births by people who could not care for children - she also mentioned sterilizing 'unfit' members of the population.

In a 1921 article in the Birth Control Review, Sanger wrote, "The most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective."

In 1939 she said of their traveling show to promote birth control aimed at African Americans: "We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten that idea out if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."

Perhaps her view evolved over time but there is a direct connection of her group to the current Planned Parenthood organization with these figures who espoused views that are considered extremely racist and reprehensible today and viewed with suspicion by blacks, Catholics and others at the time.

[RINO Tom]

Obviously, as "social conservative" has largely come to mean that you agree with more of the GOP's "social views" than the Democrats' "social views," and abortion is just one issue.

[darklordoftech]

When Reagan was Governor of California, he liberalized California's abortion laws and made California the first no-fault divorce state in America, but he was considered socially conservative at the time for his views on civil rights, school busing, hippies, anti-war protests, and law and order. It was only when Reagan embraced the religious right in 1980 that abortion became the litmus test for social conservatism.

Also, I'm sure anyone who supports eugenics is socially conservative.

Wasn't eugenics a product of the "progressive" era?

Yes, but only in that its supporters claimed to have "science" on their side. If someone produced scientific evidence that same-sex marriage harms society, opposing same-sex marriage would still be a socially conservative view.

[darklordoftech]

Nixon likewise allowed for expansion of those rights while president.

Wasn't Nixon the one who attacked his opponents for "amnesty, acid, and abortion"? Wasn't opposition to school busing part of Nixon's campaign?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Me, if posters like Gully Foyle and afleitch are to be believed.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Nixon likewise allowed for expansion of those rights while president.

Wasn't Nixon the one who attacked his opponents for "amnesty, acid, and abortion"? Wasn't opposition to school busing part of Nixon's campaign?

Despite the significant effect that his campaign for re-election had on his policies, one should still consider that what Nixon allowed to occur while in office was different from both (a) how he campaigned, and (b) what he might have preferred happen. Now, the phrase "Amnesty, Acid, and Abortion" came from the primaries--reportedly actually coined by Senator Thomas Eagleton himself--and was regurgitated by certain members of the press. It was helpful for Nixon that certain audiences hear the attack, but not others. Given the President's margins nationwide, it's fair to say that a number of moderates and liberal also supported Nixon, albeit for perhaps different reasons than the "Democrats for Nixon" did. A man who, on the eve of his resignation, celebrated with his staff over their history of routing the liberals, nevertheless appointed Elliot Richardson among others to his administration.

[HisGrace]

Roe v Wade happened more than 40 years ago. At this point opposing it is reactionary rather than conservative.

If you just mean the standard perceived alignment of the issues in American politics, then sure, you could be pro-choice, but then against gay marriage, gun control, affirmative action, hard line on drug and crime issues and conservative on church and state issues.