Dr. Bernard Nathanson, R.I.P.

[Mr VJP]

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, R.I.P.    The pro-life movement lost one of its icons this week  when Dr. Bernard Nathanson died of cancer at the age of 84. The OB/GYN  is best known for his radical conversion from abortionist to tireless  champion of the unborn. Nathanson, a co-founder of the pro-abortion  group NARAL Pro-Choice America, admitted that he was responsible for  75,000 abortions and had personally performed 5,000 -- including one on a  girlfriend he had gotten pregnant. He also revealed that he and other  abortionists exaggerated the number of women who had died from illegal  abortions. Those numbers had been key in winning people over to the  pro-"choice" side.

Nathanson's renunciation of abortion began with the  arrival of new sonogram technology in the 1970s; this technology also  inspired his work on "The Silent Scream,"  a 1985 film that exposed the realities of abortion and changed the face  of the debate. Later, he produced the documentary "Eclipse of Reason,"  which showed various abortion procedures, and he wrote several books  about his experiences on both sides of the issue. His conversion was  also a religious one; Nathanson, who had grown up in a secular Jewish  home, became a devout Catholic in his later years. He will be missed.