The Hand of God

Details: 04 March 2011

Last week, Dr. Bernard Nathanson died. Dr. Nathanson was co-founder of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), played an instrumental role in the effort to legalize abortion, was responsible for 75,000 abortions including the abortion of his own child, and once described himself as a Jewish atheist.

Thanks to the "Hand of God" (the name of a book he wrote), Dr. Nathanson died a revered pro-life activist and a Roman Catholic. Dr. Nathanson’s conversion is nothing short of miraculous; compelling evidence of our Lord’s assurance that "with God all things are possible".

Dr. Nathanson’s conversion as an abortionist occurred after witnessing an ultrasound of an abortion. "I had come to the conclusion that there was no reason for an abortion at any time" he said. "[T]his person in the womb is a living human being, and we could not continue to wage war against the most defenseless of human beings. Having looked at the ultrasound, I could no longer go on as before."

After his abortion conversion, Dr. Nathanson wrote his famous book "Aborting America" in which he acknowledged a number of lies that he and his NARAL collaborators produced. For example, regarding the number of deaths from illegal, "back alley" abortions, he said NARAL claimed that 5,000 to 10,000 women died each year.

"I confess that I knew the figures were totally false," Dr. Nathanson said, "and I suppose the others did to if they stopped to think of it. But in the ‘morality’ of our revolution, it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics."

In 1985, Dr. Nathanson produced a video called "Silent Scream" which used ultrasound to show images of an abortion on a 12-week old unborn child. He later produced a second video entitled "Eclipse of Reason" featuring a late term abortion.

Dr. Nathanson stated repeatedly that his "switch to pro-life had nothing to do with religion." Instead, he said his mind was changed "based on the scientific evidence…based on fetoscopies and ultrasound studies."

However, as he explained in his book "Hand of God", his conversion was not yet complete. After 13 years of spiritual searching, Dr. Nathanson was baptized into the Catholic faith in 1996 by Cardinal John O’Connor, Archbishop of New York.

There is a fascinating local angle to Dr. Nathanson’s conversion to Catholicism. He credits Msgr. Thomas Holoman, a retired priest of the Diocese of Lincoln and former pro-life director for the diocese, with being a catalyst to his conversion.

In 2004 when Msgr. Holoman retired as pro-life director, Dr. Nathanson wrote him a letter saying the following:

"I recall that twenty years ago you found me in personal crisis and with compassion, infinite patience and understanding you helped me to resolve that crisis. I date the beginning of my thirteen-year-long hegira to Christ to that event. I personally owe you an unrequitable debt in helping me to find the peace of Christ."

Joan Andrews Bell, a long-time pro-life activist who was Dr. Nathanson’s godmother for baptism, said "He will be remembered as a very strong advocate for the babies. One factor stood out, knowing him over the years, and that was that he had a deep pain for what he had done in terms of abortion. I remember there were periods he was fasting; he underwent huge amounts of fasting to make up for it."

"He was like St. Paul," Bell continued, "who was a great persecutor of the Church, yet when he saw the light of Christ, he was perhaps the greatest apostle for the Gospel. Dr. Nathanson was like that after his conversion. He went all around the world talking about the babies and the evils of abortion."

Dr. Nathanson’s funeral Mass was held on February 28 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City with Archbishop Timothy Dolan as main celebrant. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let the Perpetual Light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference,
215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.