Historian Daniel Williams traces the pro-life movement's origins before Roe v. Wade, challenging narratives that treat anti-abortion activism as purely a response to the Supreme Court's decision. He shows how opposition to abortion emerged in the 1960s from unlikely sources: liberal Catholics concerned about the sanctity of life who also opposed capital punishment and nuclear weapons, civil rights activists who saw abortion access in Black communities as eugenic population control, and physicians worried about medical ethics. Williams examines how these various strands coalesced into a movement and how the movement changed as it gained evangelical Protestant and then Republican Party support. The book complicates simple accounts of anti-abortion politics as conservative reaction, showing its roots in progressive traditions that have since been forgotten. Williams also traces how legal strategy evolved, as pro-life lawyers developed constitutional arguments and model legislation that would later bear fruit in state-level restrictions. For anyone seeking to understand the pro-life movement beyond stereotypes, this work provides nuanced history that takes seriously the ideas and motivations of activists across the political spectrum.