Opposition to legal abortion wasn't always a consensus matter across the Christian Right. In fact, as recently as the early 1970s, Protestants mostly considered it a "Catholic issue." But against a backdrop of paranoia about government overreach into religious affairs and fear of demographic decline, a Catholic named Paul Weyrich and an evangelical named Jerry Falwell joined hands to turn abortion into the signature mobilizing issue of their new Moral Majority. This week, June and Josh look at how this historical moment was primed for exploitation, why Christian rhetoric and policy toward abortion shifted so quickly, and what the long-term durability of this unholy alliance means as Americans continue to see their civil rights rolled back by the Trump administration.

CLICK HERE AND DONATE TO AN ABORTION FUND IN YOUR AREA TODAY

EPISODE IMAGE: Paul Weyrich, cofounder of the Moral Majority, in a Heritage Foundation portrait from 1982

SOURCES:

• "Creating the Litmus Test: Abortion, Mainline Protestants, and the Rise of the Religious Right" by Sabrina Danielsen
• "Family Values" and the Formation of a Christian Right Agenda by Seth Dowland
• Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right by Randall Balmer
• “How the Right Uses Abortion Restrictions to Reinforce Racist and Gendered Hierarchies” by Cassie Miller, Southern Poverty Law Center
• “Respect for Unborn Human Life: The Church’s Constant Teaching” from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
• Historical Abortion Law Timeline: 1850 to Today from Planned Parenthood Action
• “The Religious Right and the Abortion Myth” by Randall Balmer, POLITICO
• "Here's how much the ICE budget would increase under Trump's megabill" by Grace Deng, Snopes

AUDIO CLIPS:

• 42:55 – Ronald Reagan delivers an address to religious leaders at the 1980 National Affairs Briefing

FOLLOW THE SHOW:

• Website: illconceivedpodcast.com
• Bluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.com
• Tumblr: @illconceivedpod

FOLLOW JOSH:

• Website: joshboerman.com
• Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world
• Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds
• Stream: Traditional Scrench

FOLLOW JUNE:

• Bluesky: @junlper.beer
• Other podcast: Western Kabuki
• Writing: June's Substack

Josh and June look into the past of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current Health and Human Services secretary, and how his history led to him getting involved with the MAGA movement. Once a liberal and advocate for environmental issues, Kennedy took a turn into anti-science and pseudo-health political movements later in life and gained notoriety within Trumpworld. Now that this conspiracy theorist holds the reins of America’s largest government health institution, we zoom into how these beliefs inform what he has done, what he still intends to do with this power, and why his long-standing emphasis on children's health resonates so strongly with people who are invested in the natalist agenda.

SOURCES:

• RFK Jr. Suggests Not Enough Teens Are Getting Pregnant, Rails Against Youth Testosterone Levels
• Inside RFK Jr.'s nonprofit's legal battles over vaccines and public health
• 'RFK'ing the french fries': Steak 'n Shake becomes a MAHA darling
• RFK Jr.: I’m fighting chronic disease, slashing unhealthy fat at HHS
• RFK Jr. says autism database will use Medicare and Medicaid info
• How R.F.K. Jr. Went From Environmental Champion to Trump Backer

AUDIO CLIPS:

• 16:29 - Bernie Sanders asks RFK Jr. if he is supportive of these onesies in a Senate hearing (C-SPAN, January 29, 2025)

FOLLOW THE SHOW:

• Website: illconceivedpodcast.com
• Bluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.com
• Tumblr: @illconceivedpod

FOLLOW JOSH:

• Website: joshboerman.com
• Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world
• Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds
• Stream: Traditional Scrench

FOLLOW JUNE:

• Bluesky: @junlper.beer
• Other podcast: Western Kabuki
• Writing: June's Substack

Josh and June take a look at Promise Keepers, the organization that massed 700,000 men on the National Mall in Washington, DC for a 1997 rally that promised to bring spiritual renewal to its attendees and a new order to the social health of the country. While they didn't quite pull off the fundamental transformation they were hoping for, Promise Keepers left a significant impact on the evangelical Christian psyche. And somehow, they're still around today, desperately trying to convince the world of their definition of fatherhood and family.

SOURCES:

• The First Promise Keepers Event: Witnessing the Power of God" by David Roadcup
• Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes du Mez
• Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper by Bill McCartney et al.
• "Promise Keepers pledge to move from stadium rallies to the marketplace" by Adelle Banks, Religion News Service
• "New Promise Keepers CEO ready to see a revival among men" by Maina Mwaura, The Christian Index
• "Promise Keepers Pour Into The Nation's Capital" (CNN, 1997)
• "The Promise Keepers Opens Its Doors To Women" (NPR, 2009)

AUDIO CLIPS:

• 6:18 – Bill McCartney in a profile by WXYZ-TV Detroit (September 24, 1994)
• 32:46 – Norm MacDonald on Saturday Night Live Weekend Update (October 4, 1997)
• 33:23 – Joseph Garlington, Promise Keepers worship leader, at the 1997 Stand in the Gap rally
• 34:55 – Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, on Charlie Rose (October 3, 1997)
• 36:31 – Huron Claus, Native American Christian evangelist, at the 1997 Stand in the Gap rally
• 38:00 – Bill McCartney, Promise Keepers founder, on Larry King Live (October 7, 1997)
• 47:49 – Shane Winnings, current Promise Keepers CEO, on Morning Joe (April 3, 2025)
• 50:50 – Web trailer for Wake-Up Call, the 2025 Promise Keepers in-person summit in Yakima

FOLLOW THE SHOW:

• Website: illconceivedpodcast.com
• Bluesky: ‪@ill-conceived-pod.bsky.social‬
• Tumblr: @illconceivedpod

FOLLOW JOSH:

• Website: joshboerman.com
• Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world
• Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds
• Stream: Traditional Scrench

FOLLOW JUNE:

• Bluesky: @junlper.beer
• Other podcast: Western Kabuki
• Writing: June's Substack

Ill Conceived is a new podcast about natalism—the ideology that sees declining birthrates as the most important issue in modern American politics—and how it's a skeleton key to understanding both the MAGA movement and reactionary conservatism more broadly. Hosted by Josh Boerman of The Worst of All Possible Worlds and June Sternbach of Western Kabuki, each week the show will take a look at the actions and effects of this movement, as well as the people and organizations that paved the way to the moment we're now in.

New episodes every Friday, beginning on June 20.

FOLLOW THE SHOW:

• Website: illconceivedpodcast.com
• Bluesky: ‪@ill-conceived-pod.bsky.social‬
• Tumblr: @illconceivedpod

FOLLOW JUNE:

• Bluesky: @junlper.beer
• Other podcast: Western Kabuki

FOLLOW JOSH:

• Website: joshboerman.com
• Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world
• Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds