A pretty old post of an article over at freerepublic.com, but worth reading the whole thing.
When the Catholic Church hierarchy took a strong stand on abortion, it found itself the target, rather than the position espoused. Quickly, the public issue of whether or not abortion should be fully legal in the United States descended into a cauldron of unrelated issues of separation of Church and State, the Catholic Church’s tax exempt status, the religious affiliation of abortion opponents, alleged "Catholic power," and the imposition of sectarian belief on American law. As one New York state legislator would thunder in the midst of abortion debate, "you have no right to come to the floor of this body and ask us to enact into law church doctrine."
Sound familiar? The author is talking about the abortion debate in the mid-1960's.
I highly recommend the book Articles of Faith for an excellent history of this topic.
I think that Nathanson tells how he and the other early pro-abort leaders (men, not women!) decided early on to make the Church their "villain."