"I am responsible for 75.000 abortions"

Abstract

Professor Nathanson says that from 1967 he initiated, through the National Association for Antiabortion Laws, the fight to legalize abortion in the United States. He supervised more than ten thousand abortions, and practiced more than five thousand, including the one of his own son. According to him, «it was cold, impassive and purely surgical». At the beginning of 1973, when new technologies were introduced allowing us to see, measure, understand, and observe the human fetus, he changed his opinion about abortion and he became a defender of life. Based on his experience he affirms that to fight against abortion one is advised to use specific terminology. Otherwise, he will be beaten in each debate. He says the same in relation to euthanasia, a word that he considers not to be used, because it does not imply that one is against good death, but because it defends assisted suicide or the active murder commited by doctors. The desire to justify one and another action has the same cause: unrestricted autonomy. Autonomy has been given the status of God, with the power to mainly govern others in the ethical field. However, freedom in a vacuum does not existo