In fact, it wasn’t until 1979—a full six years after Roe—that
evangelical leaders, at the behest of conservative activist Paul
Weyrich, seized on abortion not for moral reasons, but as a rallying-cry
to deny President Jimmy Carter a second term. Why? Because the
anti-abortion crusade was more palatable than the religious right’s real
motive: protecting segregated schools. So much for the new
abolitionism.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/