The Movement to Legalise Abortion: Some Forgotten Details

Copyright © Larry Johnson – August 2019

It may be of interest to the pro-abortionist fraternity that the feminist movement was not always in favour of the legalisation of the procedure and that key instigators of the movement in the 20^th Century retreated from their initial stance. I cite the following examples:

1. The medical profession in the mid to late 19^th Century in the USA were almost as one in condemning abortion. Moreover, modern day notaries such as Dr Alfred M. Bongioanni (University of Pennsylvania), Professor Hymie Gordon (Mayo Clinic), and Professor Micheline Matthews –Roth (Harvard University), have all stated that human life began at conception[i];
2. Mary Ann Glendon (Professor of Law – Harvard University) states that feminists of the mid to late 19^th Century saw that “the ready availability of abortion would facilitate the exploitation of women”. They “regarded free love, abortion, and easy divorce as disastrous for women and children”[ii];
3. Dr Bernard Nathanson – co founder of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (the primary organization at the time in the fight to legalise abortion) in 1986 moved to an anti-abortion stance stating “I changed my mind because the new scientific data we were getting from advanced technology persuaded me we could not indiscriminately continue to slaughter what was demonstrably a human being”[iii];
4. Betty Friedan – “mother” of the modern feminist movement supported abortion but eventually stated there was “far too much emphasis on it”, claiming it had become the “single, all important issue for women, and it is not”[iv]. She suggested that “feminists join forces with all who have true reverence for life, including Catholics who oppose abortion, and fight for the choice to have children”[v];
5. Margaret Sanger, pro-abortionist and founder of the American Birth Control League (subsequently Planned Parenthood), later in her life described abortion as “spiritually crippling[vi], barbaric[vii], the wrong way, and the taking of life”[viii].

The declaration by distinguished medical experts in point one stating that it is indeed human life cradled in the womb, should leave no doubt that its violation is in fact murder.

The feminists of the late 19^th Century are shown to be genuinely concerned about women’s rights rather than using the movement to progress selfish personal agendas.

In conclusion it is noteworthy that such high-profile advocates for the legalisation of abortion were so forthright in the withdrawal from their initial ideology. Indeed, their retractions would indicate that legalisation of the practice is a backward step and denotes that it is outdated and regressive. As shown above in bullet points 3, 4, and 5 these fervent activists of abortion, in retrospect, regretted its implementation. Since these foremost protagonists of the practice were able to see its shortcomings, surely it would be neglectful of our society to not take heed of their ultimate summation.

---

[i] Abortion – the Ultimate Exploitation of Women by Brian Fisher ©2017.Cited Report, Sub-Committee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158 97^th Congress 1^st Sess., 1981. Quoted in Randy Alcorn. Pro-life Answers to Pro-choice Arguments (Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books 2000),53.

[ii] Abortion – the Ultimate Exploitation of Women by Brian Fisher ©2017.Cited Mary Ann Glendon, “The Women of Roe v Wade,” First Things June/July 2003. http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/the-women-of-roe-v-wade-34.

[iii] Abortion – the Ultimate Exploitation of Women by Brian Fisher ©2017. Cited Interview with Bernard Nathanson M.D., 1986. Miriam Claire, Abortion Dilemma: Personal Views on a Public Issue (New York: Insight Books, 1995), 127. Cited on http://clinicquotes.com/dr-bernard-nathanson-on-abortion/.

[iv] Abortion – the Ultimate Exploitation of Women by Brian Fisher ©2017. Cited Betty Friedan, Life So Far: A Memoir (New York: Simon and Schuster),377.

[v] Abortion – the Ultimate Exploitation of Women by Brian Fisher ©2017. Cited Betty Friedan, The Second Stage: With a New Introduction (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1981,1986,1991,1998), 246-8, esp. 247.

[vi] Abortion – the Ultimate Exploitation of Women by Brian Fisher ©2017. Cited Margaret Sanger, An Autobiography (New York: W. W. Norton, 1938), 185

[vii] Ibid, 188

[viii] Ibid, 217