Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who did thousands of abortions but is now pro-life:
“Ultrasound technology has been really the apparatus which has put the window in the womb. This was the first time we really could see the baby. Up till that time we never could. I mean, x-rays were static. You couldn’t really use x-rays to prove or disprove much of anything about the fetus. But ultrasound gives us these very clear, precise pictures, allows us to stimulate the child, see how it breathes, see how it moves, see how it swallows, see how it urinates, see how everything happens.
Now, there’s been a new advance in this ultrasound technology which is known as transvaginal sonography. It’s very exciting. [Before] pictures were great, but they don’t compare to these pictures – it’s valuable for very early pregnancies.
We can see the gestational sac – the little sac of the pregnancy at two weeks following fertilization now with transvaginal sonography. [We] can see the heart beginning to beat at around 3 to 3 1/2 weeks now. So this has pushed back or updated a great many of our data about the unborn baby.
And I don’t doubt that there are new technologies coming even now; for example, color ultrasound which is going to give us even clearer, more vivid pictures and increase our knowledge about the unborn patient here.”
Initial transcript, The Ankerberg Theological Research Institute, Is Abortion Justifiable? Televised program, January 1990, 7
“Antiabortion forces are indeed giving their strongest arguments when they point to the similarities between a fetus and a baby, and when they try to invoke our emotional attachment to and sympathy for the fetus.”
Jane English “Abortion and the Concept of a Person” in Marty Vetterling–Braggin, Frederick A. Elliston, and Jane English, eds., Feminism and Philosophy (Totowa, New Jersey: Littlefield Adams, 1977) 410
A woman named Victoria told the story of what happened when she had an unplanned pregnancy.
“I hope in writing this story that females who read it will learn that it is okay to think that abortion isn’t for everyone.
At first, I was optimistic about my pregnancy because there was another human being growing inside of me. But shortly after, I had to leave my boyfriend, the father of my child, because he was being verbally abusive, calling me stupid and taking useless problems out on me. I got tired of it and started treating him the same way. He couldn’t handle that, so that’s when the arguments came in. Finally I promised myself that the next time would be the last. When that time came, he knew it when I hung the phone up in his ear. He tried to call me back and I continuely hung up on him. This continued for a couple of weeks. He asked me if I still wanted to be with him, and that’s when I told him no. He said he was heart-broken. I felt relieved. Relieved to be able to do anything I wanted to. Why should I put up with just anything? I think I’m worth more than that.
14 weeks
At fourteen weeks, I went to the abortion clinic not knowing how far along I was in my pregnancy. After I saw my little baby on the monitor screen I can’t lie and say that I didn’t feel anything at all; I did. From there I knew that my baby already had a personality. It had an attitude. The technician who did my ultra sound [sic] pressed down hard on my stomach where the baby was located. (I don’t know what the purpose of this was.) Even though I couldn’t feel him, the baby kicked its little legs up and its arm were going everywhere. I don’t know if this might have hurt it. I have pictures of this little one.
After I had my ultrasound I went to someone called an “advocate” to talk about my decision. I told her that I was thinking that I was sending my baby back to God. I felt that I was at a crossroads, and at this crossroad it splits in three different directions: Abortion, Keeping it, and Adoption. I chose, at that time, the abortion route. I asked her could I see the pictures of the aborted fetuses at the late stages of abortion. She told me that these pictures were really graphic and I might change my mind about abortion. I told her if that statement was true I have that right. She seemed like she wanted me to have an abortion. After looking at these gruesome pictures it reminded me of my history lesson in high school about the Jewish holocaust. These little bodies chopped up in a glass casserole pan. It was sad.
When I got home, my mom discovered my ultrasound pictures. She turned to me and asked, “Are you sure you still want to do this? After having this picture? You don’t feel nothing at all?” I told her no. I was trying to psyche myself up for this procedure thinking it would be a one time thing. No one knew all that week I threw up at the thought of abortion. That is no lie.
The time came when my mother took me to the abortion clinic. In the car she asked me if was I sure that I wanted this done. I kept telling her yes. All kinds of thoughts ran through my head: This child has nothing to do with my mistakes, cutting up this baby is soooo wrong and how could I do this to an innocent human being, why should this baby pay for my mistake. All I could think about was this innocent baby just in my stomach without a care in the world not knowing what is going to happen to it in a couple of hours. While my mother kept hounding me with questions of, “What make you think your baby will not be taken care of? Your father and I will be here to help you. I am not saying that this decision is right, and you know it isn’t either.” As soon as her back was turned my face scrunched up and I cried hysterically. Feeling helpless like the baby in my stomach. My mother wiped the tears off my face and said, “No, I will not take you because you don’t want to do this. That’s it. We are not going. I’m going to take you home.” She took me into her arms and hugged me. I don’t know what I would have done without her. She’s been there every since. Ever since then she said I’ve been acting like her daughter again.
I am still pregnant and will be delivering in two months. To this day I am still shedding tears about even considering aborting my baby. It is like, how could I ever do that. Everyday I get up and look at all the ultra sound pictures I have and wait impatiently for the day I get to hold my baby in my arms. I don’t regret my decision at all.”
Pro-choice activist Judith Arcana, who has performed abortions, gave the reasons why she thinks the pro-life movement has been so successful in the US. This is one of the reasons she mentioned:
“Third, there is science, the technology of pregnancy. People can now make fetuses live, keep them alive outside of a woman’s body, from far earlier in pregnancy than was ever imagined by us, thirty years ago.
Rapid changes in medical technology have changed pregnancy utterly.
We can now watch babies growing, virtually from the beginning of pregnancy, throughout their development; one result of this is that women relate to the fetus quite differently – primarily after the third or fourth month of course…
Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, writes about “defectives” and the “unfit”:
“The most serious charge that can be brought against modern “benevolence” is that it encouraged the perpetuation of defectives, delinquents, and dependents. These are the most dangerous elements in the world community, the most devastating curse on human progress and expression. Philanthropy is a gesture characteristic of modern business lavishing upon the unfit the profits extorted from the community at large. Looked at impartially, this compensatory generosity is in its final effect probably more dangerous, more dysgenic, more blighting than the initial practice of profiteering . . .”
Margaret Sanger The Pivot of Civilization (Oxford/New York: Pergamon Press, 1922) 123
Neonatologist Robin Pierucci talks about fetal pain:
“In the neonatal intensive care unit, I see premature babies at the edge of viability (23-24 weeks’ gestation) react to painful or uncomfortable procedures every day. For example, when you poke them for blood work, the babies wrinkle up their faces, kick their feet, clench their hands into tiny fists, curl their toes, arch their backs and try to wriggle away, or smack at the offending person. Just ask the nurses.
Measurable physiologic responses to noxious stimuli can include elevated heart and respiratory rates. …. Whether they are term or extremely immature, even though they can’t use words, babies in every neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) clearly do not react well to what the adults know are painful procedures….
Because of years at the bedside it makes sense to me that a later-stage fetus would experience the same reactions as prematurely born infants—who would receive anesthesia to prevent pain during and after their surgeries….
Because of how early in gestation I get to meet these tiny people, it is unthinkable to condone someone else literally tearing apart the same person I would attempt to save.”
Reporter Kate Pickert describes the abortion clinic Red River, which is the only abortion clinic in North Dakota:
“…inside, on the second floor, the waiting room is filled with sunlight. Lush houseplants are perched everywhere, and signs and posters decorate the walls: YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. WE TRUST WOMEN. WELL-BEHAVED WOMEN RARELY MAKE HISTORY.”
Pro-choice activist Amy Richards, co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation:
“Older women have always been more likely to talk about abortion because for them it was something heroic. Younger women, we don’t have to talk about it. That doesn’t mean we’re ashamed, but it’s the same way I don’t talk about having warts removed.
REBECCA TRAISTER “Morality play” Salon February 9, 2005
Below: preborn baby at 10 weeks – is killing him the same as removing a wart?
