By Maria V. Gallagher, Legislative Director

History shows that the pro-abortion movement was founded on lies.

The late Dr. Bernard Nathanson co-founded the pro-abortion lobbying group known as NARAL. He admitted:

“A truthful poll of opinion then would have found that most Americans were against permissive abortion. Yet within five years we had convinced the Supreme Court to issue the decision which legalized abortion throughout America in 1973 and produced virtual abortion on demand up to birth.”

He further stated that NARAL produced fictional polls to bring about the legalization of abortion:

“We announced to the media that we had taken polls and that 60% of Americans were in favor of permissive abortion. This is the tactic of the self-fulfilling lie. Few people care to be in the minority.”

He also lied about the number of illegal abortions performed in the U.S. prior to the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in all fifty states.

“We aroused enough sympathy to sell our program of permissive abortion by fabricating the number of illegal abortions done annually in the U.S. The actual figure was approaching 100,000 but the figure we gave to the media repeatedly was 1,000,000. Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the public.”

He also fabricated the number of deaths from illegal abortions:

“The number of women dying from illegal abortions was around 200 – 250 annually. The figure constantly fed to the media was 10,000. These false figures took root in the consciousness of Americans convincing many that we needed to crack the abortion law.”

But Dr. Nathanson later testified to the truth by renouncing his pro-abortion advocacy and adopting a pro-life stance. He also served as a compelling witness to the deceitful origins of the pro-abortion movement–a movement which has led to the deaths of more than 60 million preborn children.