From the Cracker Squire Archives: Opposition to abortion is a bulwark of the Republican Party. It wasn’t always thus.

From a 3-18-05 post partly entitled "Abortion is a litmus test for both parties now":

Opposition to abortion is a bulwark of the Republican Party. It wasn’t always thus. President Gerald Ford supported federal funding for abortions for poor women until his challenger, Democrat Jimmy Carter, emphasized his personal opposition to abortion and said he opposed using federal money to pay for the procedure. Ford changed his position under political pressure, and in the midst of the presidential campaign in September 1976 he signed the so-called Hyde Amendment (named after its sponsor, Illinois Rep. Henry Hyde) to ban using Medicaid funds for abortion. Almost 30 years later, the ban remains intact.