Bernard Nathanson: Abortion Doctor Convert

American Catholic History

Noelle & Tom Crowe

History, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Education

5 • 724 Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2024

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

Bernard Nathanson helped co-found NARAL an was responsible for 75,000 abortions, including 5,000 he did with his own hands. But with the advent of advanced imaging technology that allowed a more clear view of the fetus in the womb, he began to realize the humanity of the unborn child, and by the end of the 1970s he had fully accepted that abortion is wrong. He became an ardent pro-life, anti-abortion advocate, but was an atheist through the 1980s. In the 1990s, however, his quest for forgiveness and absolution of his many evil deeds led him to become Catholic in 1996. He died in 2011.

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to American Catholic History, brought to you by the support of listeners like you.
0:11.0	If you like this podcast and would like to support our work, please visit American Catholic
0:16.0	History.org slash support. I'm Noelle Heister Crow. And I'm Tom Crow.
0:21.5	Today we're talking about Bernard Nathanson, the radical pro-abortion doctor who had a
0:27.3	dramatic change of heart and later a dramatic conversion.
0:31.1	He only became Catholic after his 70th birthday.
0:35.9	And that was about 20 years after he changed from being one of the men
0:40.0	most responsible for abortion becoming the law of the land to one of abortion's biggest
0:46.2	opponents. Many have likened his story to that of St. Paul, who of course had the dramatic
0:51.3	conversion experience on the road to Damascus. Yeah, his conversion from the life of promoting and committing the most heinous evil of our day
0:58.7	to fighting against that evil hammer and tongs. It's just amazing. I remember when I first heard
1:04.6	the basic facts of his conversion, just the fact that the founder of Nairal, one of the most
1:09.1	virally pro-abortion outfits around, later
1:12.1	in life, completely rejected abortion and embraced Catholicism. It was just a real wow moment
1:18.2	for me. And when we do a deep dive into the particulars of his own involvement with abortion,
1:23.6	his conversion is all the more striking. Yeah, so let's just get into his story.
1:28.8	Bernard Nathanson was born July 31st, 1926 in New York City.
1:33.7	His parents were Jewish and his father was an obstetrician gynaecologist or OBGYN.
1:38.8	Bernard followed his father into medicine.
1:41.3	He went to Cornell University and then to McGill University in Canada,
1:46.2	graduating with his medical degree in 1949. In 1952, he became a board certified OBGYN in New York
1:54.2	State, and he joined his father's practice in New York City. But by this point, he already was
	...

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