Greater Erie March & Motorcade for Life People for Life, Inc. - January 11, 1999
People for Life will be presenting two pro-life speakers concurrently. Dr. Nathanson will be available in the Avalon Hotel Ballroom immediately following the Pro-Life Breakfast, at noon, for interviews and to answer questions from local journalists. Dr. Nathanson has lectured widely on the subject of abortion, even testifying before the Congress of the United States. For more about Dr. Nathanson, the co-founder of NARAL -- but also "the abortion doctor who changed his mind," see below. Meanwhile, residents of Erie and neighboring communities will march in silence from the Avalon to Perry Square, where another popular and dynamic speaker, Rev. Mick McGinnis will also publicly affirm the importance and value of each and every human life.
Dr. Bernard N. Nathanson, M.A. (Bioethics), M.D. BERNARD NATHANSON'S STORY is one of conversion, conversion in both a professional sense and a spiritual sense, from death to life. Dr. Nathanson, an obstetrician-gynecologist, was a founding father of NARAL, initially known as the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, now the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. Derisively nicknamed "The Abortion King" by many of his colleagues, Dr. Nathanson played a key role in the campaign during the 1960's to legalize abortion on demand which culminated in the January 22, 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. For nearly two decades, however, he has directed his formidable abilities towards the destruction of the "abortion monster" he helped unleash. When the New York State statute prohibiting abortion was repealed in 1970, Dr. Nathanson became the director of the largest abortion clinic in the world at the time, New York City's Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health. By his own estimate, he was responsible for 75,000 abortions. Meanwhile, the science of fetology was progressing rapidly, and the new technology of real time ultrasound imaging opened a "window on the womb." Owing in large part to these advances, Dr. Nathanson gradually became convinced of the true humanity and value of the unborn child. Having departed from the New York City abortion facility in late August of 1972, Dr. Nathanson continued doing abortions for a period of time. He was doing them only for what he could satisfy himself were "compelling medical" reasons when, in early 1979, Dr. Nathanson did his very last abortion. He subsequently produced two highly successful pro-life videos, The Silent Scream (pioneering the use of ultrasound imaging as a pro-life teaching tool) and Eclipse of Reason (dealing with late term abortions). Dr. Nathanson is also the author of the pro-life books Aborting America (1979) and The Abortion Papers: Inside the Abortion Mentality (1983) and numerous scholarly papers and magazine articles.
When the ultrasound recordings were seen during public viewings, their impact on the audience was profound. Dr. Nathanson decided to develop a professional quality film incorporating selected footage from the ultrasound recordings. The Silent Scream was shown for the first time on January 3, 1985 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Fourteen years later, People for Life volunteers note that the best known and most frequently requested pro-life video is still The Silent Scream.
"I did two or three abortions in 1978, and in 1979 I did my last one. I had come to the conclusion that there was no reason for an abortion at any time; this person in the womb is a living human being, and we could not continue to wage war against the most defenseless of human beings."Dr. Nathanson is currently Clinical Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York Medical College.
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