The Hand of God: A Journey from Death to Life by the Abortion Doctor Who Changed His Mind

Bernard Nathanson, MD, was a founder of the pro-choice movement and a tireless crusader for the legalization of abortion. By his own admission, Nathanson presided over more than 60,000 abortions and personally performed 5,000 abortions himself. He co-founded the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL), which later became the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and is now NARAL Pro-Choice America.“The Hand of God” is Nathanson’s recounting of his journey from being a pro-choice activist to being a pro-life activist; from being a “Jewish atheist” to being a Roman Catholic. This book covers his remarkable odyssey – medically, ethically and spiritually.Family life for him was tumultuous – no faith, no maternal love, phobias, fantasies and fears. His father fed the monster that Nathanson would become with utilitarian views of women. “Women were generally relegated to the back of the bus.” He was married four times with his first three marriages ending in divorce.His introduction to the “satanic world of abortion” came while in medical school when his girlfriend had an unplanned pregnancy. He “selfishly” insisted on an abortion which destroyed the relationship. Questions from the girlfriend riddled the relationship: “Why didn’t he marry me? Why couldn’t we have had this baby? Why should I have had to imperil my life and my future children for the sake of his convenience and academic schedule? Will God punish me for what I have done by making me barren?”Then there was another unplanned pregnancy with a woman who loved him very much. He himself performed the abortion. He destroyed his own child. He had no feelings aside from the sense of accomplishment and pride of expertise. Nathanson relates this to the gates of the satanic world of abortion being opened by his selfish narcissism and inability to love. He names this hell as the “suffering of one unable to love.”He aborted unborn children of friends, colleagues, casual acquaintances and even teachers. “There was never a shred of self-doubt, never a wavering of the supreme confidence that he was doing a major service for those who sought him out.”Nathanson’s journey continued uninterrupted until he had the chance to observe a real-time abortion with ultrasound. He soon came to regard the procedure as unjustified homicide and refused to perform it.Once exposed to the truth of his “horrendous procedure,” he stopped doing abortions for any reason; dedicated himself to the fight against abortion; and revealed to the world the lies he and his abortion movement colleagues had told to break down public opposition.In 1985, Nathanson employed the ultrasound to produce a documentary film, “The Silent Scream,” which energized the pro-life movement and threw the pro-choice side onto the defensive by showing in graphic detail the killing of a twelve-week-old fetus in a suction abortion. Nathanson used the footage to describe the facts of fetal development and to make the case for the humanity and dignity of the child in the womb. At one point, viewers see the child draw back from the surgical instrument and open his mouth: “This,” Nathanson says in the narration, “is the silent scream of a child threatened imminently with extinction.With his change of heart, pro-life conversion and activism, Nathanson became a target for the anti-life forces, the subject of ridicule and satire, and the butt of jokes. He came to regard the taking of innocent human lives as comparable to Hitler’s Dachau, Stalin’s Gulag, or Pole Pot’s Cambodia.He spoke publicly of what was soon to come as a result of the misuse of science and the lack of respect for the sacredness of human life: genetic manipulation, sex selection, surrogate motherhood, frozen embryos, cloning stem cell research, and the sale and use of body parts. He was a true prophet for what he predicted would happen.Nathanson’s spiritual conversion followed his ethical conversion (to pro-life). Those in the pro-life movement had a profound impact on him. He also came to understand the Catholic Church’s position on life. The Church, which he attacked for years, stood and continues to stand virtually alone in the defense of the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death.Fr. J.C. McCloskey who served as a spiritual mentor to Nathanson calls “The Hand of God” one of the most important autobiographies of the 20th Century. John Cardinal O’Connor who baptized him at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral commented “that the lack of respect for life is rooted in the lack of self-respect, and the lack of self-respect as a consequence of sin.”“The Hand of God” shows the power of God’s grace as Nathanson confesses his own heartlessness in his role as a leader of the pro-abortion movement and then becomes an important force in reversing the blind acceptance of the procedure.

Other reviewers have done an excellent job of providing summaries of this extremely powerful book, so I'll make just a few observations:1. The book is very well-written. Nathanson is a doctor who is also an excellent writer.2. The man lays his mind and soul bare to the reader. He personally participated in about 75,000 abortions. That is mind-boggling to me, but even more so for the new Nathanson, who, no exaggeration, has gone through a transformative process that must have been unbearably painful and ultimately liberating. Another reviewer mentioned St. Augustine's "Confessions." That is exactly the book I thought of while reading Nathanson's devastating account of how he was saved from his atheism and nihilism.3. Nathanson minces no words about the horror of abortion and about his culpability in the growth of the abortion industry, which he critiques with lacerating skill and courage.4. The emotional resonance of Nathanson's retelling of the details of the abortion he performed on a woman carrying his own child is worth the price of the book in itself. The detached amorality of his actions, the lack of regret, and the smug sense of professionalism he felt as he skillfully "evacuated" the "pregnancy tissue" sent chills down my spine. He compares the sense he felt at the time of yet another surgical procedure performed flawlessly, with the sense of accomplishment Eichmann must have felt when the Holocaust death trains departed on time and arrived at the extermination camps on time. Nathanson speaks with a brutal honesty about himself that will resound in readers' memories for a long time.I am ultimately at a loss for words about how afffecting this book is, both as a critique of elective abortion and the abortion industry, and about one man's profound journey in finding himself. I only wish this book would be read by a much wider audience. Perhaps we all have the duty to provide copies to our families and friends.

This is truly an amazing story written by a very intelligent man. One of the key founders of NARAL, the notorious abortion-rights group, tells his story into the abortion rights movement, and then out of it. What changed his heart? Ultrasound. How can one deny human life, coming face to face with it? But beyond being a solid pro-life treatise, this book is also an enjoyable autobiography. Nathanson's Jewish upbringing, his father (also an obgyn)'s strict background, all told with vivid imagery, I can feel myself walking the streets of Montreal with them. He examines his relationship with his father (whom he finds to be a study in self-contradiction) with just enough introspection. He seems to be honest with his own shortcomings: several failed marriages, an absentee relationship with his only son. His vocabulary is extensive, but it's usually not hard to figure out what he's saying if you can grasp the context. (Or, if you're really ambitious, read with a dictionary at your side.) Having read Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade)'s "Won by Love" recently, I thought this would follow in the same vein. In one sense, it does: two highly influential pro-abortion figures experience a dramatic change of heart and begin working to save tiny lives instead of advocating for the freedom to destroy them. But while McCorvey's book is highly readable, this one is in a higher academic bracket. An excellent book, highly recommended.

How vital it is to remember how gruesome abortions always were and always will be. This story of understanding that men or women should not be in charge of deciding who should live or die, who has a life worthy of not killing was critical to share-again and again -for future generations.

That in all things God may be glorified and He certainly did that with Dr. Nathanson. RIP good sir and thank you for fighting the fight.

Very much opened my wyes

As a staunch Pro Life person I obviously heard about Dr. Nathanson.His story is very empowering on many levels as someone who was a great sinner who realised the error of his ways and had the courage to completely change direction.In summary Dr. Nathanson was one of the strongest proponents of abortion in the US prior to the Roe vs Wade case in 1973 and went on to run one of the biggest abortion clinics in the US after the legalisation of abortion.But over a period of years having witnessed the untiring protests of Pro Life activists and also with the improved science of ultra sound technology he came to the realisation that abortion was real disaster for humanity.His courage in becoming one of the staunchest Pro Life people was hugely inspiring- I believe unless he had been touched by the hand of God he would not have had such an enormous transition.Any pro choice person who read this and had an open mind would I believe make a very similar transition.

This is a powerful story of an issue that many have heard only one side of. Matheson has lived both.

What a wonderful testimony. Couldn't put it down!