The conversion of ex-abortionist Dr. Bernard Nathanson
- AARON LAMBERT
In Georgia, a 14-year-old student opened fire at a high school, killing four people and injuring at least nine others1234. The suspect has been arrested, but the motive is not yet known1. This incident is the 29th mass shooting in the U.S. this year1.
There were 1,026,690 abortions performed in the US last year.
From the 2000–01 to 2021–22 school years, there were 1,375 school shootings at public and private elementary and secondary schools, resulting in 515 deaths and 1,161 injuries.
School Shootings in 2023: How Many and Where (edweek.org)
The latest government data on school shootings (usafacts.org)
Seems the gun is no where near as lethal as the liberal love affair with murdering children in the womb.
Not even close.
School shooters don’t “just snap” when they carry out violent acts.
Hormone Replacement & Asperinger and School Shootings.
Many school shooters plan their violence, and their planning behavior is often observed by their friends, classmates, and sometimes family members beforehand. In fact, their pre-attack behavior often follows what the Secret Service and FBI call a “pathway to violence.”
- They develop some idea to do harm (often to try to solve a problem or handle a situation where they don’t see other options).
- They plan how they want to carry out the harm.
- They prepare for the violent act by accessing firearms, other weapons, and other gear they think they’ll need.
- They implement the plan for violence.
School shooters almost always tell others.
Whether it be their friends, classmates, or online followers, shooters often talk about their violent plans before they carry them out. The FBI calls these communications “leakage.”
Most carry out their shootings because they are feeling desperate, despondent, or in many cases are suicidal.
- They often hope that police will kill them during the school shooting, or they plan to kill themselves at the end of their attack. Some even attempted suicide, but failed, and resorted to carrying out a school shooting instead with the hope that police would end their life. There have been 416 school shootings since Columbine – Washington Post
To get you started, here is a prayer of protection against school shootings you can pray with faith.
Father, in the Name of Jesus,
I thank You for my children and I praise You for the gift of education. I thank You that our children have the privilege and right to develop their minds and to do so safely.
Lord, I know it is NEVER Your will that bullying, violence or shootings take place in a school or anywhere else. I recognize and acknowledge that these things are the work of evil and that You have called us to stand against wickedness through our words, actions and prayers.
I thank You that in Psalm 91 and so many other places in Your Word, there is a promise of divine protection for my children, and based on Your Word, I declare that no evil will come near my children or their schools in the Name of Jesus. I declare that no weapon formed against any school in my city will prosper. I pray that every plan for evil plan will be brought into the light and halted.
I thank You that Your angels surround my children, taking charge over them and protecting them from danger of any kind.
I speak life, truth, safety and protection over every child at this school.
I declare that no evil will come near them.
I thank You, Father, that You have not given us a spirit of fear, but of POWER. Therefore, I will not fear, but take comfort in Your truth and Your promises.
Thank You for Your goodness, mercy, and grace.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
The pro-life movement is rife with stories of former pro-abortion advocates who had a change of heart and became pro-life champions. Abortion doctor movie – Search Videos
Perhaps the best known of these stories is that of Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood employee who witnessed an abortion being performed and could no longer deny the humanity of the child in the womb.
However, there is a lesser-known champion — perhaps by design — who experienced a profound conversion later in life and became a staunch witness for the unborn. What makes his story so remarkable, and indeed, transformative, is that he was one of the doctors who was a key influence on the Roe v. Wade decision 50 years ago.
“I am one of those who helped usher in this barbaric age,” wrote Dr. Bernard Nathanson in his 1996 autobiography, The Hand of God. Dr. Nathanson co-founded the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL) in 1970, thus marking what could be considered the beginning of the “barbaric age” he spoke of. NARAL, now called NARAL Pro-Choice America, still exists as a major pro-abortion player today, and continues to advocate for and advance complete and unfettered access to abortion for women.
By all accounts, Dr. Nathanson’s name would not have been lost to the annals of history nor forgotten by the mass media had he not undergone such a profound conversion. Indeed, as a young doctor, his mission was perfectly in line with that of NARAL; he and his colleagues opened a facility in New York City to meet the growing demand for abortion after abortion laws in the state became more lax in 1970. It was a point of pride for the clinic that a woman could come to the clinic, get an abortion and recover in a process that took three hours.
All told, Dr. Nathanson admitted that he was personally responsible for 75,000 abortions, whether performed by his own hand, presided over or through instructing fellow practitioners in the grim art of performing them. However, one abortion in particular would haunt Dr. Nathanson for the entirety of his life: that of his own child. After getting a girlfriend pregnant while living in New York, he performed an abortion on her himself.
He described the act in his autobiography, which was merely one more cold, mechanical procedure among many for him. “What is it like to terminate the life of your own child? I have aborted the unborn children of my friends, my colleagues, casual acquaintances, even my teachers. There was never a shred of self-doubt, never a wavering of the supreme self-confidence that I was doing a major service to those who sought me out. I swear to you that I had no feelings aside from the sense of accomplishment, the pride of expertise.”
In 1973, Dr. Nathanson and a growing contingent of pro-abortion doctors and medical professionals proved pivotal in convincing the Supreme Court to legalize abortion with the Roe v. Wade decision; the rest is history. Consider it a mercy of God that a small part of Dr. Nathanson’s conscience remained intact; for after the unspeakable acts he had performed and the critical role he played in allowing for the systematic dismantling of the sanctity of life, his conscience was ripped open, ironically, through the rather scientific advent of ultrasound technology.
After the passage of Roe in 1973, Dr. Nathanson became director of obstetrics for a large hospital in New York. It was there that he witnessed what many sadly still choose to willfully deny today: the unmistakable form of a child on the ultrasound screen and the scientific mechanics of life that come with it — including the indelible image of an innocent person shrinking away from the cold, steel tools that are intended to destroy that most precious life.
“Fetology makes it undeniably evident that life begins at conception and requires all the protection and safeguards that any of us enjoy.”
“A favorite pro-abortion tactic is to insist that the definition of when life begins is impossible; that the question is a theological or moral or philosophical one, anything but a scientific one,” he wrote in The Hand of God. “Fetology makes it undeniably evident that life begins at conception and requires all the protection and safeguards that any of us enjoy.”
From that moment on, Dr. Nathanson’s mission changed; the entire trajectory of his life shifted from being a harbinger of death to a defender of innocence. He was outcast from medical circles, but this did not prevent his shining light into the dark truths behind the Roe decision. He admitted that he and other doctors manipulated the media by inflating the number of “back-alley abortions” performed and deaths resulting from them to make them seem far more dangerous than they were in reality to the public eye.
“Another myth we fed to the public through the media was that legalizing abortion would only mean that the abortions taking place illegally would then be done legally,” he wrote. “In fact, of course, abortion is now being used as a primary method of birth control in the U.S. and the annual number of abortions has increased by 1500% since legalization.”
Then there was the Catholic Church, which was (and still is) a clear and present opposition to the “abortion on-demand” mentality; as such, the Church had to become the villain in this story.
“We systematically vilified the Catholic Church and its ‘socially backward ideas’ and picked on the Catholic hierarchy as the villain in opposing abortion,” Dr. Nathanson revealed. “An inference of this tactic was that there were no non-Catholic groups opposing abortion. The fact that other Christian as well as non-Christian religions were (and still are) monolithically opposed to abortion was constantly suppressed, along with pro-life atheists’ opinions.”
Clearly, it worked. Even to this day, the Church is one of the only major institutions that stands firmly opposed to abortion, and as such, it is villiainized relentlessly under the guise of “reproductive freedom.”
This is not the end of Dr. Nathanson’s story, however. In fact, in a twist that only could have been orchestrated by the hand of God, the very institution that Dr. Nathanson helped to vilify exactly what it is in actuality for the tormented doctor: a means of repentance and salvation in a life weighed down by the degrading effects of sin.
Although he continued to perform abortions until 1979 under the pretense of “medically justified reasons,” the seeds for Dr. Nathanson’s conversion were planted by that ultrasound image. Over the years, haunted by the weight of what he had done, Dr. Nathanson contemplated suicide. Adding to his anguish were several failed marriages and his failings as a father to his one son, born by a different woman than the one he’d performed an abortion on years earlier. The accuser prowled, and his soul was ripe for the taking.
It was outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in 1989, while working on an article concerning the morality of clinic blockades, that Dr. Nathanson would experience the God of the universe through the joy of those Christian witnesses who prayed diligently for the unborn.
“They prayed for each other but never for themselves,” he wrote. “And I wondered: How can these people give of themselves for a constituency that is (and always will be) mute, invisible and unable to thank them? It was only then that I began seriously to question what indescribable Force generated them to this activity. Why, too, was I there? What had led me to this time and place? Was it the same Force that allowed them to sit serene and unafraid at the epicenter of legal, physical, ethical and moral chaos?”
Even a soul as scarred as Dr. Nathanson’s by the scourge of unspeakable sin is not exempt from the warm and reckless embrace of the God of the universe.
The Lord began to tug at Dr. Nathanson’s heart, but, being the intellectual he was, his mind was not yet convinced. He took up reading the works of C.S. Lewis, Cardinal John Henry Newman, Blaise Pascal and others to more deeply understand the “how” and “why” of Christianity. He was helped by a few figures both living and dead along the way, including St. Luke and Karl Stern, whose book Pillar of Fire closely echoed that of his own journey to faith.
Then, in December of 1996, Dr. Nathanson was washed clean of his sin through the sacrament of baptism and was welcomed into the holy communion of the Catholic Church. “I will be free from sin,” he said in a 1996 interview with Crisis Magazine, just prior to his being received into the Church. “For the first time in my life, I will feel the shelter and warmth of faith.”
Dr. Nathanson’s godmother for baptism, Joan Andrews Bell, had served more than a year in jail for blocking entrances to abortion clinics. Speaking with the National Catholic Register after Dr. After Nathanson’s death in February 2011, Bell said that he would be remembered as a “very strong advocate for the babies.” She also spoke of what she witnessed in Dr. Nathanson after he had come to know Christ.
“One factor stood out, knowing him over the years, and that was that he had a deep pain for what he had done in terms of abortion. I remember there were periods he was fasting; he underwent huge amounts of fasting to make up for it,” she said. “He was like St. Paul, who was a great persecutor of the Church, yet when he saw the light of Christ, he was perhaps the greatest apostle for the Gospel. Dr. Nathanson was like that after his conversion. He went all around the world talking about babies and the evils of abortion.”
Three important truths can be gleaned from Dr. Nathanson’s tragic but ultimately triumphant story.
First is that truth, when encountered, is both altering and absolute; and the truth about the intrinsic dignity of those most precious lives in the womb hasn’t changed in the 50 years since Roe and never will — no matter how much humans refuse to acknowledge it.
Second, the silent and often scorned witness of those who faithfully pray for the unborn and offer compassion to the women who feel as though there is no other option is not a fruitless endeavor; indeed, that very witness was the impetus for Dr. Nathanson’s cosmic conversion.
And lastly but by no means the least, the mercy of God knows no bounds. Even a soul as scarred as Dr. Nathanson’s by the scourge of unspeakable sin is not exempt from the warm and reckless embrace of the God of the universe, whose grandiosity can be found in even the tiniest of things, such as the faint flutter of a heartbeat in a newly conceived child.
The courageous defense of life is a thankless task, one that’s met with what seems like an entire ocean of opposition. But as Dr. Nathanson shows, no matter how impossible the odds seem, there is always hope, and hope abundant. May the sorrow of abortion never be outweighed by the hope that is evident in stories like Dr. Nathanson’s, and may that hope continue to be a beacon of light in the courageous battle against Roe v. Wade and similar laws that seek to undermine the most basic and intrinsic right of humanity: the right to be born and to be loved.
I believe a higher spirit created life – Search Videos (bing.com)
Many people share the belief that a higher spirit or divine force played a role in the creation of life. This perspective is often rooted in various religious and spiritual traditions. For example, in Christianity, the Bible describes the Spirit of God as being involved in the creation of the world and life itself1 That’s a profound belief. Many people find comfort and meaning in the idea that a higher spirit or divine force is behind the creation of life.
It’s a perspective that has been shared across various cultures and religions throughout history. The idea that a higher being developed human life is a perspective held by many people around the world. This belief often stems from religious, spiritual, or philosophical viewpoints. For instance, many religious traditions, such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, teach that a divine creator is responsible for the creation of life.
According to the Book of Genesis, God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Humans were created on the sixth day, with Adam being formed from the dust of the ground and Eve from Adam’s rib1.
That’s a deeply held belief for many people. Creationism, which posits that a higher power created life and the universe, is a perspective found in various religious traditions. It often provides a sense of purpose and understanding about our existence.
If you’re comfortable sharing, what aspects of creationism resonate most with you? Or is there a particular story or teaching that you find especially meaningful?
On the other hand, the scientific community generally supports the theory of evolution, which explains the development of human life through natural processes over millions of years. This theory is based on extensive evidence from various fields, including genetics, paleontology, and comparative anatomy.
That’s a very common perspective! The theory of evolution, first proposed by Charles Darwin, provides a comprehensive explanation for the diversity of life on Earth. It suggests that all species, including humans, have evolved over time through a process of natural selection. This means that traits that enhance survival and reproduction become more common in successive generations.
The evidence supporting evolution comes from many scientific fields, such as:
- Fossil records: Showing gradual changes in species over millions of years.
- Genetics: Demonstrating how DNA mutations and recombination contribute to variation.
- Comparative anatomy: Revealing similarities in the structure of different organisms, suggesting common ancestry.
It’s fascinating how these pieces of evidence fit together to tell the story of life’s development. What aspects of evolution do you find most compelling?
Both perspectives offer different ways of understanding our origins and can coexist in a broader discussion about the meaning and purpose of life. What are your thoughts on this topic?
When does life truly begin?
Life Before Birth – In the Womb (youtube.com)
The stunning documentary Life before Birth doesn’t approach this question primarily from a social or political perspective, but through the prism of medical and scientific observation. Utilizing the latest in spectacular 4D ultrasound imagery and innovative computerized animations, the film shows us the miraculous development of a fetus during its time in the womb.
The mysteries of life originate even before the occurrence of our birth. The film begins its narrative at the moment of conception as internal biological events lead to the fertilization of the egg. A male voice gives expression to the developing fetus at these crucial early stages.
“I am in limbo, but at least I am,” the narrator instructs. “A promise made by the past to the future.” Life before Birth goes on to explore the formation of a fetus’ genetic make-up, including the determinants of its gender and many aspects which foretell the entirety of the child’s future outside of the womb.
The development of the fetus is meticulously recreated throughout the film’s feature-length running time. We’re shown the formation of the brain’s completely exposed nerve endings after fifteen days in the womb during a phase of development in which the fetus has yet to take any discernibly human form. Blood and nourishment are allowed free flow throughout the embryo as the heart begins to develop from a mass of muscle cells after 22 days.
At the 30 day marker, the embryo still appears undefined and gelatinous, although the eyes and limbs have already begun to manifest. As shown in four-dimensional scans, the fetus begins to kick after eleven weeks, and forms an additional complex series of reflexes and behaviors in the third trimester. During this entire process, the biology of the mother is naturally manipulated to harbor the safest haven possible for the continued healthy development of her fetus.
Splendidly visualized and featuring a wealth of fascinating insights, Life before Birth is an award-winning documentary that carefully dissects every milestone in the nine-month gestation of the human fetus. In so doing, it serves as a valuable reminder of the wonders of our natural evolution.
The National Geographic documentary series “In the Womb” is a fascinating exploration of fetal development. The series originally aired in 2005 and uses groundbreaking photography, state-of-the-art special effects, and 4D scans to take viewers on a remarkable journey inside the womb12.
One notable episode, “Life Before Birth”, focuses on human pregnancy, documenting the nine-month journey from conception to birth with stunning visuals and detailed explanations3. The series also includes episodes on various animal species, showcasing the development of embryos in the uterus of animals like elephants, dogs, and meerkats4.
Is there a specific aspect of fetal development you’re curious about?
Learn more: 1themoviedb.org 2en.wikipedia.org 3imdb.com 4disneyplus.com
5youtube.com 6youtube.com 7youtube.com 8embryo.asu.edu 9The Miracle of Life
10 Life’s Greatest Miracle 11 Inside the Human Body 12 Body Organs & Their Functions
In the Womb (2005), by Toby Mcdonald and National Geographic Channel
A baby’s heart begins to beat as early as 18 to 24 days after conception12. This early heartbeat is a crucial milestone in fetal development, marking the start of the circulatory system’s formation. The development of the heart during pregnancy is a fascinating and complex process.
Here’s a brief overview of the key stages:
- Early Formation:
- Heart Tube Folding:
- During the 4th week, the heart tube undergoes a process called folding, which positions it in the correct anatomical location in the chest3.
- This folding is crucial for the heart to develop its complex structure.
- Chamber Formation:
- By week 5-6, the heart begins to form distinct chambers (two atria and two ventricles) through a process called septation4.
- The heart’s valves also start to form during this period.
- Maturation:
- Throughout the first trimester, the heart continues to mature and develop its intricate structures5.
- By the end of the first trimester, the heart is fully formed but continues to grow and strengthen throughout the pregnancy.
- Functionality:
This process is essential for the overall development of the fetus, as the heart plays a critical role in circulating blood and supporting the growth of other organs.
Tell me more about the role of placenta in fetal circulation.
What are some common heart defects in newborns?How does blood flow through the fetal heart?
Graphic Video of an Abortion – Search (bing.com)
When it’s life threatening and becomes a decision between a Doctor and a Patient
Why not leave the choice up to the mothers while educating and supporting them in the meantime?
So many ways we can tackle this without putting women and doctors in prison over a deeply personal private issue.
I have dealt with drug addicts & mentally insurable people in my life… much different than someone who doesn’t know how to take help once it’s offered or all for help. It’s actually easier to get across to the people who don’t know how to accept help or how to ask for it.
Kandice Hadley there’s that damn strawman argument again.
I’M NOT IN FAVOR OF CRIMINALIZING MISCARRIAGES, DR’S, PREGNANT WOMEN ETC ETC.
NOWHERE HAVE I SAID I AM. DO I NEED TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU? TATTOO IT ACROSS MY FOREHEAD FOR YOU? LIKE WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR YOU TO GET OUT THROUGH YOUR HEAD??
There’s a difference in banning abortions & wanting women to go to jail over misunderstandings regarding miscarriages etc etc. Not sure why you can’t make that distinction.
I’m in favor of education… proper education on this topic &sex Ed in general… not the crap that’s being taught in schools today, which includes verbiage along the lines of ‘hey don’t worry if you get pregnant, you can just go to an abortion clinic like PP & get an abortion & no need to have parental consent either’.
Re-educating youth on the sanctity of life & that pregnancy is a real factor when having sex & it’s a serious matter… but something that can just be tossed to the side with a quick abortion.
Your solution is to kill babies because the child welfare system is screwed & springs are full. How’s about advocating to fix the systems & reduce the cost & be more accessible for the average family to adopt?
Then maybe those healthy happy couples could line up to rescue the kids!! It’s crazy how prochoicers automatically think that pro-lifers don’t give a rip about the kids & just want abortions banned without any viable solutions to the aftermath.
If started with logical arguments to begin with instead of abusing me for the criminalization of miscarriages right out the gate, maybe we could’ve gotten to the point in the conversation of a solution… but hey strawman arguments are cool too…I like spending time rejecting those & defending my stance…. not like I didn’t have anything else to do.
Oh wait…we don’t need to take responsibility for anything in this disposable world, do we?
Kandice Hadley absolutely not – teach your kids and take responsibility for your actions!
We medicate in an instant to “numb” our feelings and do as we please – it’s pathetic!
Someday we will all answer to the good Lord.
Why are you going on about abortion bans but not advocating for all the children being massacred in Gaza?
Shouldn’t we start with the people who are already born and living?
Lots more bigger fish to fry than this issue right now unfortunately.
Other ways to handle this, other than criminalizing women and doctors. Education and information are key.
Handing the government more power over our bodies helps us how? Honestly asking. How does banning abortion fix any issue?
Imagine criminalizing abortion and some woman is pregnant but her boyfriend is abusive. What if her boyfriend causes her to have a miscarriage but there’s no way to prove he did it? He could get abortion pills and put it in her drinks. (This has happened before). I mean this is such a grey area and it will bring sooooo many messed up situations and LOTS of innocent women and doctors will go through hell for this.
What if you weren’t given a choice!!
Why Not let the child be born and raised letting them not have a say is an abomination to God!!
Why should the baby suffer the death penalty for the crimes of their sperm donor?
Why not let the child be born to learn life for themselves!!!!!
I meant your first comment about “what if you weren’t given a choice”.
But completely agree to let them live.
I took that as in the case of rape, the woman wasn’t given the choice to conceive or not…. (1) Facebook
The Silent Scream Bernard N. Nathanson Movie – Search (bing.com)
The Silent Scream is a 1984 anti-abortion film created and narrated by Bernard Nathanson, a former abortion provider who had become an anti-abortion activist. It was produced by Crusade for Life, Inc., an evangelical anti-abortion organization, and has been described as a pro-life propaganda film.[1][2] The film depicts the abortion process via ultrasound and shows an abortion taking place in the uterus. During the abortion process, the fetus is described as appearing to make outcries of pain and discomfort. The video has been a popular tool used by the anti-abortion campaign in arguing against abortion,[3] but it has been criticized as misleading by members of the medical community.[4]
Former Abortionist Finds His Epiphany In ‘Hand of God’: Spiritual quest leads to Catholicism | EWTN
Learn more: 1babycenter.com 2teachmeanatomy.info 3embryology.med.unsw.edu.au
4mayoclinic.org 5whattoexpect.com 6mayoclinic.org
Learn more: 1bing.com 2whyprolife.com 3webmd.com 4health.clevelandclinic.org