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In 1969, Bernard N. Nathanson, MD, an
ob-gyn, was a co-founder of the National Assn. for the Repeal of Abortion
Laws (NARAL). The group distributed pamphlets, picketed and lobbied state
legislators in New York to legalize abortion. When it was
legalized, he served as the director of a center in New York that
provided abortions. But by 1978, Dr. Nathanson concluded that he could no longer perform
abortions. He now believes that it takes a baby's life. "It wasn't an
epiphany on the road to Damascus that culminated in 1978," Dr. Nathanson
said. "It was a gradual decision between 1974 and 1978."
During that time, technology improved, and through fetal monitoring and
ultrasound, Dr. Nathanson said he had a window into the womb. Prior to
that, he said, there was an imbalance to his thinking. The pregnant woman
was the obvious patient. But the technology allowed him to see the fetus,
he said, and that
allowed him to strike a balance in his thinking. "I discovered that the
developing baby was no different than any of us," he said.
Dr. Nathanson has since earned a graduate degree in bioethics. He wrote
the book "The Hand of God, A Journey from Death to Life by the Abortion
Doctor Who Changed His Mind" and travels around the world to speak out
against abortion.
"If abortion clinics closed tomorrow, we would not go back to the
back-alley abortion days," Dr. Nathanson said. He predicts that there
would be a flourishing black market for medical abortion pills. "We're not
going to wipe out abortion," he said. "All we can do is set moral
standards." |