Got curious based on the discussion in this thread and some quick research shows that neither Kennedy nor Nixon took a public position on abortion in 1960.
KennedyAbortion did come on the political radar in 1962 when TV host Sherri Finkbine fled the US to get an abortion after taking Thalidomide (which her husband had smuggled here after the Kennedy administration banned it). I can't find Kennedy or any politician making a statement on it. Interestingly, the only time Kennedy and abortion were mentioned together in the press is in August 1963, when Swedish newspapers
said infant Patrick Kennedy should have been aborted rather than born prematurely. Kennedy died without making a public pronouncement on the issue.
NixonHell, the GOP stance on abortion wasn't even clear by the time it actually became nationally legal with Roe v. Wade; Nixon did not oppose the ruling.
However, claiming that Nixon "did not oppose" Roe is misleading if not outright wrong. Nixon had previously banned military abortions and was publicly supportive of restrictions as President even before Roe. He even actively said that the effort to ban abortion in New York was a "noble endeavor." By the time Roe actually rolled around, Nixon was a little busy with Watergate, but public commentators noted that the decision was a break with Nixon policy.
Perhaps he didn't make these positions vocal in 1968 because Humphrey was also very anti-abortion. There's a reason McGovern was pegged as the candidate of "
abortion, amnesty, and acid" in 1972. It was on the radar well before Roe. (This myth, that Roe suddenly awakened some vast conspiracy of evangelicals and Catholics, is very persistent. I will always take the chance to correct it.)
