Reagan loathed abortion.
It pains me to remind you that Ronald Reagan signed the first bill in the US permitting abortion when he was governor — long before Roe v. Wade was decided in the Supreme Court. He later recanted, but the deed was already done. California has the dubious honor of aborting more babies than live births. Shameful!
Personally, I think Reagan was “played” by Nancy and his Hollywood friends on that one — subjected to the old rape, incest, and health of the mother argument. There was a lot of that flying around in those days. Of course “health of the mother” was quickly turned into an “Oh, I couldn’t possibly deal with stretch marks” argument that permitted abortion on demand for any reason.
I’ve always loathed the grotesquely ugly Penny Marshall