Dr. Bernard Nathanson and the ‘Abortion Song’

The late Dr. Bernard Nathanson was an abortionist and crusader for abortion rights, and the co-founder of NARAL Pro-Choice America. The letters of NARAL originally stood for the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, and Nathanson was one of a number of activists who were pivotal in legalizing abortion in several states before Roe v. Wade.

Dr. Nathanson would go on to become a famous pro-lifer after having supervised or performed 60,000 abortions. He was converted by new technology that showed the development of a preborn baby, particularly ultrasound.

His first book, “Aborting America,” written while he was still developing his views on abortion, revealed the dishonest way pro-abortion activists lobbied for their cause. His video, “The Silent Scream,” shows an abortion done under ultrasound and has been a powerful pro-life tool for many years.

An interesting detail in “Aborting America“ is the “Abortion Song.” This is a song that he remembered from his time as an intern. The song was about how profitable illegal abortion was, and how profitable it would be if it was ever legalized. The song’s lyrics are: (1)

 There’s a fortune….in abortion
Just a twist of the wrist and you’re through.
The population….of the nation
Won’t grow if it’s left up to you.
In the daytime…In the nighttime
There is always more work to undo.
Oh there’s a fortune…In abortion
But you’ll wind up in the pen before you’re through.
Now there’s a gold mine…in the sex line
And it’s so easy to do.
Not only rabbits…have those habits
So why worry about typhoid and flu?
You never bother…the future father
and there’s so many of them too.
Oh there’s a fortune…in abortion
But you’ll wind up in the pen before you’re through.

It was clear from the beginning that there was a lot of money to be made in abortion work. Legalizing abortion-on-demand multiplied the number of women seeking abortions, and made it extremely lucrative for doctors to enter the abortion field.

An example of the amount of money that can be made performing abortions can be found in Peter Korn’s book, “Lovejoy: A Year in the Life of an Abortion Clinic.” The book was written in 1996.

Korn described how one abortionist worked a 20-hour work week performing abortions and made over $300,000 a year. This was in 1996.(2) An average abortion costs $100 to $150 more today than it did in the late 1990s.

1. Bernard Nathanson, M.D. with Richard N Ostling. Aborting America (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1979)  17

2. Peter Korn Lovejoy: A Year in the Life of an Abortion Clinic (New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1996) 59