Release of more of President Nixon’s taped conversations show his reaction to the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion. From Tapes Reveal Nixon’s View of Abortion – NYTimes.com:
On Jan. 23, 1973, when the Supreme Court struck down state criminal abortion laws in Roe v. Wade, President Richard M. Nixon made no public statement. But privately, newly released tapes reveal, he expressed ambivalence.
Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster “permissiveness,” and said that “it breaks the family.” But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases, such as interracial pregnancies.
“There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding: “Or a rape.”
Notice that the issue of killing a human life played no role in his decision. He was a little worried about enabling sexual permissiveness and even recognized that the decision would be harmful to the institution of the family. But his racism trumped everything!
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