"I am one of those who helped usher in this barbaric age."-- Bernard Nathanson
Dr. Bernard Nathanson has died. Nathanson was a co-founder of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL), director in the early 1970s of the largest abortion facility in the world, and one of the nation's leading abortion advocates. He performed about 5,000 abortions himself, and said that he was "personally responsible" for more than 75,000.
Then his mind was changed, and he became an immensely influential pro-life advocate, writing books (Aborting America) and making documentary films (The Silent Scream, Eclipse of Reason) in opposition to the grave injustice of abortion.
What changed Nathanson's mind? An increasing awareness of the humanity of the unborn child.
"Modern technologies have convinced us that beyond question the unborn child is simply another human being, another member of the human community, indistinguishable in every way from any of us."
After becoming pro-life, Nathanson admitted the outright lies (wildly inflated estimates of illegal abortions, maternal deaths) he and others told to propel the pro-abortion movement in the years leading up to Roe v. Wade.
"This [my responsibility for abortions] was the greatest mistake of my life, and legal abortion was the greatest mistake this nation has ever conceived. It must be brought to an end after 50 million deaths of unborn babies."
See the statement by National Right to Life mourning the death of Dr. Nathanson.
