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Aborting America
A prominent obstetrician/gynecologist who led the fight for the repeal of abortion laws, Nathanson explains how his views on abortion have changed and why he now supports a Constitutional amendment on the right to life
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
Bernard Nathanson
6 books8 followersBernard N. Nathanson (July 31, 1926 – February 21, 2011) was an American medical doctor from New York who helped to found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, but later became a pro-life activist. He was the narrator for the controversial 1984 anti-abortion film The Silent Scream.
Nathanson was born in New York City. His father was an obstetrician/gynecologist, the same career that Nathanson held in his professional life. Nathanson graduated in 1949 from McGill University Faculty of Medicine in Montreal.
He was licensed to practice in New York state since 1952 and became board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology in 1960. He was for a time the director of the Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health (CRASH), then the largest freestanding abortion facility in the world. In 1974 Nathanson wrote: “I am deeply troubled by my own increasing certainty that I had in fact presided over 60,000 deaths.” He also wrote that he performed an abortion on a woman whom he had impregnated.
Originally a pro-choice activist, Nathanson gained national attention by then becoming one of the founding members of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (later renamed the National Abortion Rights Action League, and now known as NARAL Pro-Choice America). He worked with Betty Friedan and others for the legalization of abortion in the United States. Their efforts essentially succeeded with the Roe v Wade decision.
With the development of ultrasound in the 1970s, he had the chance to observe a real-time abortion. This led him to reconsider his views on abortion. He is often quoted as saying abortion is "the most atrocious holocaust in the history of the United States". He wrote the book Aborting America where he first exposed what he called "the dishonest beginnings of the abortion movement". In 1984, he directed and narrated a film titled The Silent Scream, in cooperation with the National Right to Life Committee, regarding abortion. His second documentary Eclipse of Reason dealt with late-term abortions. He stated that the numbers he once cited for NARAL concerning the number of deaths linked to illegal abortions were "false figures".
Referring to his previous work as an abortion provider and abortion rights activist, he wrote in his 1996 autobiography Hand of God, "I am one of those who helped usher in this barbaric age." Nathanson developed what he called the "vector theory of life", which states that from the moment of conception, there exists "a self-directed force of life that, if not interrupted, will lead to the birth of a human baby."
Nathanson grew up Jewish and for more than ten years after he became pro-life he described himself as a "Jewish atheist". In 1996 he converted to Catholicism through the efforts of an Opus Dei priest, the Rev. C. John McCloskey. In December 1996, Nathanson was baptized by Cardinal John O'Connor in a private Mass with a group of friends in New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He also received Confirmation and first Communion from the cardinal. He stated that "no religion matches the special role for forgiveness that is afforded by the Catholic Church" when asked why he converted to Roman Catholicism.
Nathanson married four times; his first three marriages ended in divorce.[1] He died of cancer in New York on February 21, 2011 at the age of 84. He was survived by his fourth wife, Christine, and a son, Joseph, from a previous union, who resides in New Jersey.
Source (4th October 2014):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_...
Nathanson was born in New York City. His father was an obstetrician/gynecologist, the same career that Nathanson held in his professional life. Nathanson graduated in 1949 from McGill University Faculty of Medicine in Montreal.
He was licensed to practice in New York state since 1952 and became board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology in 1960. He was for a time the director of the Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health (CRASH), then the largest freestanding abortion facility in the world. In 1974 Nathanson wrote: “I am deeply troubled by my own increasing certainty that I had in fact presided over 60,000 deaths.” He also wrote that he performed an abortion on a woman whom he had impregnated.
Originally a pro-choice activist, Nathanson gained national attention by then becoming one of the founding members of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (later renamed the National Abortion Rights Action League, and now known as NARAL Pro-Choice America). He worked with Betty Friedan and others for the legalization of abortion in the United States. Their efforts essentially succeeded with the Roe v Wade decision.
With the development of ultrasound in the 1970s, he had the chance to observe a real-time abortion. This led him to reconsider his views on abortion. He is often quoted as saying abortion is "the most atrocious holocaust in the history of the United States". He wrote the book Aborting America where he first exposed what he called "the dishonest beginnings of the abortion movement". In 1984, he directed and narrated a film titled The Silent Scream, in cooperation with the National Right to Life Committee, regarding abortion. His second documentary Eclipse of Reason dealt with late-term abortions. He stated that the numbers he once cited for NARAL concerning the number of deaths linked to illegal abortions were "false figures".
Referring to his previous work as an abortion provider and abortion rights activist, he wrote in his 1996 autobiography Hand of God, "I am one of those who helped usher in this barbaric age." Nathanson developed what he called the "vector theory of life", which states that from the moment of conception, there exists "a self-directed force of life that, if not interrupted, will lead to the birth of a human baby."
Nathanson grew up Jewish and for more than ten years after he became pro-life he described himself as a "Jewish atheist". In 1996 he converted to Catholicism through the efforts of an Opus Dei priest, the Rev. C. John McCloskey. In December 1996, Nathanson was baptized by Cardinal John O'Connor in a private Mass with a group of friends in New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He also received Confirmation and first Communion from the cardinal. He stated that "no religion matches the special role for forgiveness that is afforded by the Catholic Church" when asked why he converted to Roman Catholicism.
Nathanson married four times; his first three marriages ended in divorce.[1] He died of cancer in New York on February 21, 2011 at the age of 84. He was survived by his fourth wife, Christine, and a son, Joseph, from a previous union, who resides in New Jersey.
Source (4th October 2014):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_...
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 6, 2015
it is interesting to read this book after reading "The Hand of God" which was Dr. Nathanson's autobiography written recently, right before his death. Aborting America was written in 1979, when Nathanson was still struggling with the issue of abortion. In Aborting America, he supports some abortions – later he would become a committed pro-lifer. He would also go on to make the movie the silent scream, one of the most famous pro-life pieces of persuasive film ever conceived. It shows an unborn baby being aborted via ultrasound and has converted many people to the pro-life cause. This book is very dated, but it has some very interesting information about how and why a physician would get involved in the abortion issue, as well as an inside look at what it was like to work to legalize abortion in the era before Roe versus Wade. it is in a sense an Exposé of the pro-choice movement. Definitely a valuable book for anyone interested in the abortion issue. the latter few chapters are a little bit pointless, as they do not reflect Dr. Bernard Nathanson's views as he later began to hold them, and do not offer anything original.
September 11, 2010
An excellent, if dated, book on the topic of abortion in America. It is written by the Doctor who helped to form NARAL and guided the pro-abortion cause through the late 1960s through the Roe v. Wade decision. The book begins with Dr. Nathanson's story as he enters medical school and follows his journey as he evolves into a pro-abortion OB/GYN. Dr. Nathanson is very candid with his thoughts and seems to be honest about how be came to be a supporter of abortion rights. He also tells the story of how he changed his opinion about abortion which he claims is based solely on biology and medicine, not religion.
Dr. Nathanson cannot be considered a typical "pro-lifer" as he advocates a view on the issue of abortion that allows the procedure for some situations. While I may not agree with all that the doctor has written in this book, I respect his approach and honesty concerning abortion. This volume should be read by all concerned with abortion. Whether you are "pro-life" or "pro-choice" this is a must-read!
Dr. Nathanson cannot be considered a typical "pro-lifer" as he advocates a view on the issue of abortion that allows the procedure for some situations. While I may not agree with all that the doctor has written in this book, I respect his approach and honesty concerning abortion. This volume should be read by all concerned with abortion. Whether you are "pro-life" or "pro-choice" this is a must-read!
October 13, 2025
THE “CONVERSION” STORY OF A FORMER ABORTION DOCTOR
Bernard N. Nathanson (1926- 2011) was an American medical doctor from New York who helped to found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws [N.A.R.A.L.], but later became a pro-life activist. He was the narrator for the controversial 1984 anti-abortion film ‘The Silent Scream.’ Although he was Jewish (describing himself as an atheist), he converted to Catholicism in 1996. He also wrote the books ‘Abortion Papers: Inside the Abortion Mentality’ and ‘The Hand of God: A Journey from Death to Life by The Abortion Doctor Who Changed His Mind.’
He wrote in the first chapter of this 1979 book, “Any author on abortion must submit to religious dissection. I went to … a fine private school with virtually 100 percent Jewish students… and three times weekly attended Hebrew school … [at] one of the conservative synagogues… Preoccupation with Zionism and fund-raising left little energy for instruction in conversational Hebrew or any demeaning excursions into the arcane regions of faith… my father tried to instill pride in me about being Jewish and never got away from attending the High holy Day services… it is no wonder that I have never entered a synagogue again since [my Bar Mitzvah].” (Pg. 5-6)
While in college as a medical student he met Ruth Potemkin: “Ruth and I spent increasingly lengthy intervals together, actively making plans to marry upon my graduation. And then Ruth became pregnant.” They managed to arrange for her to have an [then illegal] abortion. Afterward, “She drove up in a cab… There was a pool of clotting blood on the floor of the cab.” (Pg. 11-14) Not long afterwards, “She said good-bye to me brightly and disappeared from my life. To my relief.” (Pg. 15)
After graduation, “I first became aware of the rather widespread dissembling, deception, and hypocrisy going on in the matter of abortion, I became disdainful, even contemptuous of those private gynecologists whom I knew to be participating in this loathsome little charade… in fury at my own impotence to aid my patients, and particularly in anger at the egregious inequity in the availability of abortions, the germination of an idea began: the need to change the laws.”
After abortion in some cases was made legal in Great Britain, “I began referring some patients to Dr. David Sopher… [who] was a gentle, decent man. There were masses of women who were unwillingly pregnant, and he was a highly skilled technician, and it was legal. He was one of many in the abortion movement who saw the issue in these artless and ingenious terms. There was undeniably money to be made, but it was, in their terms, honorable and hard-earned money.” (Pg. 26-27)
He recounts a conversation with a man who called the Catholic Church “‘the biggest single obstacle to peace and decency throughout all history.’ He held forth on that theme… It was a comprehensive and chilling indictment … I was far from an admirer of the church’s role in the world … It passed through my mind that if one had substituted ‘Jewish’ for "Catholic,’ it would have made the most vicious anti-Semitic tirade imaginable.” (Pg. 32-33)
Of the meetings required before an abortion could be performed legally, “The committees were approving virtually all applications, rejecting only those in which the paperwork was inadequate or incorrect… the obstetricians made it all too clear that their valuable time was being wasted… and why bother?” (Pg. 41) He made changes in the procedure, and “With one minor modification … this hands-off method is precisely the one used everywhere for ‘salting out’ abortions today.” (Pg. 45)
He notes that “the Catholic bishops were… making abortion appear to be purely a ‘Catholic issue’ rather than an interreligious one. They also weakened the credibility of the anti-abortion forces because of their unflinching opposition to … artificial birth control and voluntary sterilization.” (Pg. 52) Also, “Feminists are sometimes so intent on denying the ‘right to life’ of the fetus, that they forget that the WOMAN has a ‘right to life.’ The womb is no place for non-surgeons to tinker with experimental hardware.” (Pg. 92)
He became head of his own abortion clinic. But he eventually resigned: “I began to be plagues with nagging little doubts and disturbing questions. The episode of the discarded tissue specimens continued to haunt me. Why had I been so upset by that?... Ambulatory, low-cost, safe, and humane abortion had been proven to be workable for the entire nation. It was time to move on.” (Pg. 139)
He continued his work as spokesman for N.A.R.A.L., but “I felt a little uneasy and increasingly impatient with the same ole slogans, the tired old clichés, the undiscriminating acceptance of all those shibboleths and battle cries and stereotypes that had passed for arguments over the previous four years. I felt a stranger in their midst, as if I had somehow bloodied myself in the cause, and they were still clean and dry.” (Pg. 162)
He explains, “The evolution of my thinking will sound incredible to many… Three things happened. First, I reflected again on the older knowledge in perinatology. Second, new data were reported all the time. Third, and most important, I opened myself up to the data. When one is caught up in revolutionary fervor, one simply does not want to hear the other side and filters out evidence without realizing it. Until 1973 I was sold a bill of goods… I had seen the victims of self-abortion and hack abortionists. After the fervor of activity had cooled, I found myself reflecting on the seeds of our revolution.” (Pg. 165) He continues, “it became increasingly clear that I---Bernard Nathanson, a founding father of N.A.R.A.L. and operator of the largest abortion clinic in the world---was entertaining serious doubts now about abortion. The realization was a bit frightening.” (Pg. 167)
Then he wrote his famous [11/28/74] anti-abortion article for the New England Journal of Medicine, and “I became an instant abortion celebrity.” (Pg. 171) He recalls, “I decided that I must start over from the beginning, compile and examine all my life experiences and all the pros and cons in the debate, and offer my conclusions, going deeper into abortion.” (Pg. 173) But he also critiques “Many of the arguments commonly used by anti-abortionists [which] do not hold water if examined carefully” (Pg. 184), as well as “specious arguments in favor of abortion” (Pg. 191-198)
He summarizes, “it occurs to me that the more biological data we amass, the less attention we seem to pay to it. The SCIENCE of the abortion debate is simply not in dispute. Personhood does not really depend upon consciousness, but upon people recognizing that human life that is there…” (Pg. 230) He reflects, “I now regret this loss of life. I thought the abortions were right at the time; revolutionary ethics are often unrecognizable at some future, more serene date. The errors of history are not recoverable, the lives cannot be retrieved. One can only pledge to adhere to an ethical course in the future.” (Pg. 252-253) He acknowledges, “I am compelled to report that the revolution we undertook was a seductive and ultimately poisonous dream. I all appeared so certain at the time. Now, in the light of the best data from my profession… a new conviction has arisen, that human life is a continuum that can only be broken for the most serious of reasons.” (Pg. 254)
This book will be “must reading” for anyone (on any side of the debate) seriously studying the matter of abortion. (Some may also want to read his book ‘The Hand of God,’ describing his conversion to Catholicism.)
Bernard N. Nathanson (1926- 2011) was an American medical doctor from New York who helped to found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws [N.A.R.A.L.], but later became a pro-life activist. He was the narrator for the controversial 1984 anti-abortion film ‘The Silent Scream.’ Although he was Jewish (describing himself as an atheist), he converted to Catholicism in 1996. He also wrote the books ‘Abortion Papers: Inside the Abortion Mentality’ and ‘The Hand of God: A Journey from Death to Life by The Abortion Doctor Who Changed His Mind.’
He wrote in the first chapter of this 1979 book, “Any author on abortion must submit to religious dissection. I went to … a fine private school with virtually 100 percent Jewish students… and three times weekly attended Hebrew school … [at] one of the conservative synagogues… Preoccupation with Zionism and fund-raising left little energy for instruction in conversational Hebrew or any demeaning excursions into the arcane regions of faith… my father tried to instill pride in me about being Jewish and never got away from attending the High holy Day services… it is no wonder that I have never entered a synagogue again since [my Bar Mitzvah].” (Pg. 5-6)
While in college as a medical student he met Ruth Potemkin: “Ruth and I spent increasingly lengthy intervals together, actively making plans to marry upon my graduation. And then Ruth became pregnant.” They managed to arrange for her to have an [then illegal] abortion. Afterward, “She drove up in a cab… There was a pool of clotting blood on the floor of the cab.” (Pg. 11-14) Not long afterwards, “She said good-bye to me brightly and disappeared from my life. To my relief.” (Pg. 15)
After graduation, “I first became aware of the rather widespread dissembling, deception, and hypocrisy going on in the matter of abortion, I became disdainful, even contemptuous of those private gynecologists whom I knew to be participating in this loathsome little charade… in fury at my own impotence to aid my patients, and particularly in anger at the egregious inequity in the availability of abortions, the germination of an idea began: the need to change the laws.”
After abortion in some cases was made legal in Great Britain, “I began referring some patients to Dr. David Sopher… [who] was a gentle, decent man. There were masses of women who were unwillingly pregnant, and he was a highly skilled technician, and it was legal. He was one of many in the abortion movement who saw the issue in these artless and ingenious terms. There was undeniably money to be made, but it was, in their terms, honorable and hard-earned money.” (Pg. 26-27)
He recounts a conversation with a man who called the Catholic Church “‘the biggest single obstacle to peace and decency throughout all history.’ He held forth on that theme… It was a comprehensive and chilling indictment … I was far from an admirer of the church’s role in the world … It passed through my mind that if one had substituted ‘Jewish’ for "Catholic,’ it would have made the most vicious anti-Semitic tirade imaginable.” (Pg. 32-33)
Of the meetings required before an abortion could be performed legally, “The committees were approving virtually all applications, rejecting only those in which the paperwork was inadequate or incorrect… the obstetricians made it all too clear that their valuable time was being wasted… and why bother?” (Pg. 41) He made changes in the procedure, and “With one minor modification … this hands-off method is precisely the one used everywhere for ‘salting out’ abortions today.” (Pg. 45)
He notes that “the Catholic bishops were… making abortion appear to be purely a ‘Catholic issue’ rather than an interreligious one. They also weakened the credibility of the anti-abortion forces because of their unflinching opposition to … artificial birth control and voluntary sterilization.” (Pg. 52) Also, “Feminists are sometimes so intent on denying the ‘right to life’ of the fetus, that they forget that the WOMAN has a ‘right to life.’ The womb is no place for non-surgeons to tinker with experimental hardware.” (Pg. 92)
He became head of his own abortion clinic. But he eventually resigned: “I began to be plagues with nagging little doubts and disturbing questions. The episode of the discarded tissue specimens continued to haunt me. Why had I been so upset by that?... Ambulatory, low-cost, safe, and humane abortion had been proven to be workable for the entire nation. It was time to move on.” (Pg. 139)
He continued his work as spokesman for N.A.R.A.L., but “I felt a little uneasy and increasingly impatient with the same ole slogans, the tired old clichés, the undiscriminating acceptance of all those shibboleths and battle cries and stereotypes that had passed for arguments over the previous four years. I felt a stranger in their midst, as if I had somehow bloodied myself in the cause, and they were still clean and dry.” (Pg. 162)
He explains, “The evolution of my thinking will sound incredible to many… Three things happened. First, I reflected again on the older knowledge in perinatology. Second, new data were reported all the time. Third, and most important, I opened myself up to the data. When one is caught up in revolutionary fervor, one simply does not want to hear the other side and filters out evidence without realizing it. Until 1973 I was sold a bill of goods… I had seen the victims of self-abortion and hack abortionists. After the fervor of activity had cooled, I found myself reflecting on the seeds of our revolution.” (Pg. 165) He continues, “it became increasingly clear that I---Bernard Nathanson, a founding father of N.A.R.A.L. and operator of the largest abortion clinic in the world---was entertaining serious doubts now about abortion. The realization was a bit frightening.” (Pg. 167)
Then he wrote his famous [11/28/74] anti-abortion article for the New England Journal of Medicine, and “I became an instant abortion celebrity.” (Pg. 171) He recalls, “I decided that I must start over from the beginning, compile and examine all my life experiences and all the pros and cons in the debate, and offer my conclusions, going deeper into abortion.” (Pg. 173) But he also critiques “Many of the arguments commonly used by anti-abortionists [which] do not hold water if examined carefully” (Pg. 184), as well as “specious arguments in favor of abortion” (Pg. 191-198)
He summarizes, “it occurs to me that the more biological data we amass, the less attention we seem to pay to it. The SCIENCE of the abortion debate is simply not in dispute. Personhood does not really depend upon consciousness, but upon people recognizing that human life that is there…” (Pg. 230) He reflects, “I now regret this loss of life. I thought the abortions were right at the time; revolutionary ethics are often unrecognizable at some future, more serene date. The errors of history are not recoverable, the lives cannot be retrieved. One can only pledge to adhere to an ethical course in the future.” (Pg. 252-253) He acknowledges, “I am compelled to report that the revolution we undertook was a seductive and ultimately poisonous dream. I all appeared so certain at the time. Now, in the light of the best data from my profession… a new conviction has arisen, that human life is a continuum that can only be broken for the most serious of reasons.” (Pg. 254)
This book will be “must reading” for anyone (on any side of the debate) seriously studying the matter of abortion. (Some may also want to read his book ‘The Hand of God,’ describing his conversion to Catholicism.)
August 23, 2019
Everyone who is pro-life or pro-choice should read this book. Written by Dr Bernard Nathanson, the co-founder of the National Association of Repeal of Abortion Laws, the book takes us through the years when the author studied medicine at McGill in Montreal to follow in his father's footsteps as an obstetrician-gynaecologist in New York. In the 1960's he saw the need for abortion laws to be struck down and worked to this end. Although brought up in a Jewish home as a teenager he described himself as an "atheist Jew". Dr Nathanson goes into detail on the pro-abortion movement and his part in it. After overseeing 60,000 abortions he asks to view a fetus during a suction abortion using the new technology of ultrasound. This begins his doubt about the morality of abortion. At the end of this book he still is an atheist but one who is certain that the foetus is a human being and is life. He still is in favour of abortion is some cases (rape and to save the life of the mother). It is good to read this book first and then read his next book, "The Hand of God" in which he makes the journey from atheism to Catholicism. This is the book I am now reading.
December 21, 2024
Very important history here from an abortion performing doctor who became pro-life (circa 1968 to 1978). Very nuanced. Oddly progressive and conservative. Kind of an ass in the history section but sophisticated on the philosophy bits.
November 26, 2011
This book must be read b
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews