Yes, Betty Ford spoke in favor of the Equal Rights amendment, and also in favor of legalized abortion.
Perhaps there is no bolder sign of how far to the right the Republican Party has dragged itself than to look at the life of Betty Ford, once right in the center of the GOP in ideology. Is there another Republican woman nowadays who will speak for the equal rights of women? I can think of none. Is there any Republican at all who will speak for safe and legal abortion services? No. There may be some Republicans, like Barbara Bush, who believe in choice, but she was shut up long, long ago.
RIP Betty Ford. It is hard to even imagine you as a Republican. Hell, Michelle Obama is not as liberal as Betty Ford, at least outspokenly.
I’ve admired her greatly for having an incredible voice even in her older years. She brought to our forefront cancer, addiction and feminism.
I will not lie, when I was Republican — she was the type of Republican woman I strived to be. She lived a long life of service and helping others to heal.
My wife says the same thing, T.
It was around the time of Gerald Ford that I gave up being a Republican, though I’ve voted for a few since. Still, for the most part I couldn’t stomach the party after Watergate, and I didn’t think Jerry did enough mea culpas for his party. The pardon bugged me. But Betty? She came close to giving Jerry my vote in 1976.
Betty really knew how to work that 12th step. What an enormous contribution in regards to de-shaming and a giving a culture-wide message of hope, practical compassion, modeling a calmer form of acceptance, and yes generously giving the “tools people need”.
I suppose Barbara Bush is cut from the same cloth in some ways, but Betty did not put party second to principles as did Babs. I honor that.