Bernard Nathanson

Bernard Nathanson's life was a dramatic pendulum swing at the heart of America's most divisive conflict. In the late 1960s, as a young New York obstetrician, he was a central architect of the abortion rights movement, co-founding NARAL and overseeing what was then the largest abortion clinic in the world. He later estimated he was directly or indirectly responsible for tens of thousands of abortions. A technological convert, the advent of ultrasound in the 1970s caused a profound crisis of conscience. He publicly renounced his former work, becoming an ardent anti-abortion activist. His 1984 film 'The Silent Scream,' which purported to show an abortion from the fetus's perspective, was a cultural lightning rod, galvanizing the pro-life movement and infuriating his former allies. Nathanson's journey from provider to protester made him a uniquely polarizing and influential figure, a man whose internal revolution mirrored the nation's external battle.