Dear P-Marlowe,
"FWIW in 1970 Ronald Reagan signed the most liberal abortion rights bill in the US when he was California's Governor."
The law that Gov. Reagan signed permitted abortion in these cases:
1. Rape;
2. Incest;
3. Grave threat to the physical or psychological health of the mother.
According to the California law, to procure an abortion, a woman was required to submit her request to a panel of doctors at the hospital from which she would procure her abortion, that they might objectively verify that the appropriate criteria were met.
On its face, this is hardly as liberal as the legal regime established by Roe and its companion case, Bolton.
However, Gov. Reagan didn't realize that the medical establishment, and the abortion industry, would use the "health" criterion as a loophole to allow any and all abortions. After that happened, he publicly regretted having signed the law because of this abuse.
Thus, it's a slur to say that Gov. Reagan was "guilty of political expediency." He was guilty of poor judgment, of underestimating the evil of men, and of extreme naivete. But not political expediency.
sitetest
And it was in 1967 and was not as bad as other laws (such as New York's 1970 law).