“Eclipse of Reason” is a graphic and deeply disturbing documentary put together by the late Dr. Bernard Nathanson, former abortionist turned pro-lifer who also produced the movie “The Silent Scream.”
“Eclipse of Reason” shows a second trimester unborn baby being torn apart in a D&E abortion. The movie was made some time ago, in the 1980s, and when watching it, it is easy to feel sorrow at the fact that the same procedure so well documented in “Eclipse of Reason” is still taking place today, in many abortion clinics throughout the country.
Along with the footage of the aborted baby, several former abortion providers are shown on the video. The one quoted most extensively is Dr. Arnold Halpern.
Dr. Halpern is identified as a former director of the Planned Parenthood clinic. In the video, he first explains what his view had been on when a “fetus” becomes a “baby.”
“…I never personally considered a fetus a real baby until 20 weeks of gestation when one could hear the fetal heart tones and a woman feel movement. Now somewhere along the line I was apprised or thought I was apprised that the fetus was not a human being until it arrived to the point where women could feel that baby move. As we’ve gone from 1982 to 1986 and into the late 1980s we realize that the fetus really is a child and that it really is moving, and that the heart beat is really beating by the use of ultrasound and modern techniques of detecting the fetus.…
The sophisticated equipment we have today can detect fetal heartbeat very early in pregnancy. At www.ehd.org/movies.php?mov_id=21 you can see a video of a baby’s heart beating at just four weeks after conception. The heart actually starts beating at 21 days. Dr. Halpern goes on:
“On one day I walked to the abortion clinic with 10 or 12 or 13 women waiting and I realized I cannot do any more abortions. I felt uncomfortable doing it, I felt disgusted at myself. I realized now that I’d started doing second trimester abortions and not only did I see a little tissue coming out, I saw fetal parts, I saw babies coming out, and I felt that I was so uncomfortable at this point that I could not continue and I walked out of the clinic and left that clinic without doing the abortions and never entered the abortion clinic again.
“I had finally got to a point where I couldn’t look at those little bodies again.”
Seeing the body parts of older unborn babies was what shook this doctor and made him reconsider. Dr. Halpern went on:
“Now I recognize that there is no difference between a first-trimester abortion, a second trimester abortion, or a third trimester abortion, or even infanticide. It’s the same human being in different stages of development.
“We have gone into a noble profession to be healers, and we lose sight of what we were called to do when we get into the killing business.”
These are powerful words from a former abortionist who saw the light and changed the course of his life.
Editor’s note. Sarah Terzo is a pro-life author and creator of the clinicquotes.com website. She is a member of Secular Pro-Life And PLAGAL. This appeared at liveactionnews.org.
Chelsea Garcia is a political writer with a special interest in international relations and social issues. Events surrounding the war in Ukraine and the war in Israel are a major focus for political journalists. But as a former local reporter, she is also interested in national politics.
Chelsea Garcia studied media, communication and political science in Texas, USA, and learned the journalistic trade during an internship at a daily newspaper. In addition to her political writing, she is pursuing a master's degree in multimedia and writing at Texas.
