After Dr. George Tiller’s murder on Pentecost Sunday, much has been written about late-term abortion. Among the many comments are two you might not have run across, both from former abortion doctors, Bernard Nathanson and Mary L. Davenport.

Bernard Nathanson has previously been interviewed by Julia Duin, religion writer for the Washington Times, so in the wake of Dr. Tiller’s murder, she decided to re-interview Dr. Nathanson, a former abortionist who was at the heart of the pro-choice movement in the sixties and seventies:

Soon after late-term abortion doctor George Tiller was killed, I called one of his mentors, Bernard Nathanson. The former Jewish atheist who presided over 75,000 abortions - including that of his own child - in the 1960s and 1970s left the abortion industry upon the advent of ultrasound technology.

His now-classic video “The Silent Scream” shows an unborn child recoiling from a vacuum abortion device before being sucked to its death. He was baptized a Roman Catholic in late 1996, and in an interview with me then, he said he converted because he feared going to hell.

“I have such heavy moral baggage to drag into the next world,” he explained…..

“I knew George Tiller years ago when I was on the pro-abortion side. He came to a course I was giving in the technique of abortion in New York in 1970 under the auspices of NARAL. And I did late-term abortions until I changed my opinion as of 1980.

“My switch to pro-life had nothing to do with religion,” he added. “Tiller was a church-going man, which doesn’t say a whole lot in this country, but one wonders why he never changed his mind based on the scientific evidence. That is where I changed my mind, based on fetoscopies and ultrasound studies.

“Once we had ultrasound in place, we could study the fetus and see it was a member of our community. If you don’t do that, you’re just a creature of political ideology. In 1970, there were approximately 1,100 articles on the functioning of the fetus. By 1990, there were 22,000. The data piled up swiftly and opened a window into the womb…..”

Mary L. Davenport is not so familiar a name, though she is now the president elect of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

A few days ago Dr. Davenport published on the Family Research Council’s website a discourse titled Late-Term Abortions are Never Necessary.

Among her comments:

Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, shocked the general public in 1997 when he admitted that the vast majority of partial-birth abortions were performed on healthy mothers and babies.5 Contrary to the assertion of abortion rights supporters that late-term abortion is performed for serious reasons, surveys of late abortion patients confirm that the vast majority occur because of delay in diagnosis of pregnancy.6 They are done for similar reasons as early abortions: relationship problems, young or old maternal age, education or financial concerns…..7

Peggy Jarman of the Pro-Choice Action League stated that about three-fourths of Tiller’s late-term patients were teenagers who denied to themselves or their families that they were pregnant until that fact could no longer be obscured…..8

Intentional abortion for maternal health, particularly after viability, is one of the great deceptions used to justify all abortion…..

An unfortunate reality is that the legal burden for the physician is severe if all possible risks of continuing the pregnancy are not communicated to the patient. In the U.S., multi-million dollar court judgments for “wrongful life” are allowed if the patients assert that they would have had an abortion had they known a particular problem might have ensued. It is impossible to foresee and enumerate each and every possible complication. But if abortion is recommended, even with minimal or no justification, there is no legal penalty…..

Fetal problems are the other serious rationale for considering abortion, and diagnosis of these abnormalities has multiplied with the increased use of ultrasound in pregnancy. Ultrasound studies of fetal anatomy are often done at 18-20 weeks, so abortions done as a result of these scans are late abortions. But ultrasound is imperfect and analysis of the images can result in inaccurate interpretations…..

For fatal birth defects, abortion is sometimes presented as the only option. But a better alternative is perinatal hospice. This involves continuing the pregnancy until labor begins and giving birth normally, in a setting of comfort and support until natural death occurs…..

Many couples who have had abortions for birth defects suffer from adverse long-term psychological effects and prolonged grief reactions.14 Children who learn that their mothers aborted their siblings can suffer feelings of worthlessness, guilt, distrust and rage.15

There are couples who are willing to adopt children with Down syndrome or other birth defects, but genetic counselors frequently do not give patients this information…..

Although parents choosing abortion may allege that the disabled child is better off not existing, disabled adults would contest that assertion. When surveyed in numerous studies, no differences have been found between disabled and “able-bodied” people as to their satisfaction with life…..

Perhaps the most important piece of information offered by Dr. Davenport is found in her footnote #12:

A directory of pro-life maternal-fetal medicine specialists can be found on-line. Go to: <www.prolifemfm.org>. These superbly qualified physicians are eager to help women who have been advised to undergo an abortion for medical reasons or fetal birth defects.

One of our Women for Faith & Family founders has two M.D. sons, both of whom are maternal-fetal specialists.

Some of the rest of us at W.F.F. have carried through pregnancies in which our children suffered from fatal birth defects. One of us regularly writes and speaks about Karen, a Down Syndrome daughter who died at 5 months.

No regrets.

As William Blake has written, “Joy and woe are woven fine.”