Lawrence Lader, Champion of Abortion Rights, Is Dead at 86

NYT ^ | 5/10/06

[Borges]

Lawrence Lader, a writer who so successfully marshaled his literary and political efforts in support of abortion rights that Betty Friedan, the feminist author, called him the father of the movement, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 86.

The cause was colon cancer, his wife, Joan Summers Lader, said.

Mr. Lader was a major voice in the abortion debate for four decades, becoming a lightning rod for its critics as well as a beacon for its proponents. He wrote influential books and articles on the subject, organized ministers to refer women wanting abortions to doctors as well as referring 2,000 himself, helped found what was long known as the National Abortion Rights Action League and helped win New York State's repeal of abortion restrictions in 1970.

He unsuccessfully sued the Internal Revenue Service to end the Roman Catholic Church's tax exemptions on the ground that its opposition to abortion had veered into the political arena. He successfully challenged some restrictions on the drug RU-486, known as the morning-after pill, and arranged to manufacture a version of it in the United States.

[Borges]

[Borges]

Author should be "DOUGLAS MARTIN"

[Gordongekko909]

Now the souls of millions of murdered children will have their revenge.

[ShadowAce]

Well, I guess he knows the truth now. Too bad it took this long.

[mnehring]

Is he another one of those 'eugenics' racists like Margaret Sanger who used 'abortion rights' as just another racist tool?

[SmithL]

Extremely late term, . . .

[montag813]

YOU DIED 86 YEARS TOO LATE YOU PIECE OF EXCREMENT

Where you are now, I am assured that you are NOT smiling.

[American Quilter]

Lawrence Lader, a writer who so successfully marshaled his literary and political efforts in support of abortion rights that Betty Friedan, the feminist author, called him the father of the movement,...

Really? The "father"? What a jaw-dropping malapropism.

[krb]

on the drug RU-486, known as the morning-after pill

RU-486 is not the morning-after pill.

[Antoninus]

Now the souls of millions of murdered children will have their revenge.

Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. How sad this man will feel when confronted by the Almighty and told that the souls of the thousands of babies he helped kill have been praying for him continuously all his life.

I hope that he had a deathbed conversion. I really do.

[Prime Choice]

Lawrence Lader...[supporter] of abortion rights ... Betty Friedan called him the father of the movement...

Oh, the sad irony of that insipid remark...

[reagan_fanatic]

May his soul burn in hell.

[fieldmarshaldj]

You mean MILLIONS.

And, I agree, I hope he did repent at the end.

[Prime Choice]

"Hi! Do you know me? I championed the brutal murders
of millions of innocents! And now I'm going straight to hell!
Hitler's an amateur next to me! Nice knowin' y'all!"

[CharlieOK1]

I agree, as Christians we should hope that he repented. I find myself struggling with that with some of these evil people, but you are right.

[One_American]

Larry is standing before God now and I guarantee he is not wearing that dopey smile on his face anymore.

[newzjunkey]

...organized ministers to refer women wanting abortions to doctors...

Bloody hell!

How "nice" of the NYTimes to call him the "father of" the abortion movement.

[newzjunkey]

Hope is for the living.

[newzjunkey]

He did write a biography of Sanger so perhaps he was like-minded.

[mnehring]

That's the nasty little secret of Abortion Rights history, it was started by a bunch of racists who wanted to reduce minority populations. It had nothing to do with 'liberating women'...

[don-o]

I hope that he had a deathbed conversion. I really do.

One must - though it goes against my natural bent. I am going to need all the mercy I can get on the Last Day.

[Bigg Red]

Bet it's hot where he is....

[traderrob6]

"May his soul burn in hell."

I suspect there's been a special place reserved for him there for some time now.

[BlackElk]

Henry Hyde has publicly theorized that those who have dedicated their lives to the defense of God's innocent unborn children will be welcomed by an all too large chorus of the souls of the innocent upon arrival in heaven.

I will hope for all the mercy I can get too but I do take some comfort in Hyde's hope.

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, now a Catholic and a pro-life champion, was responsible for a quarter of a million abortions through his New York abortion mill before the miracle of his conversion. He had been brought up in a faithless home but was of Jewish ancestry. Dr. Nathanson was an original board member of NARAL, resigning long before he became a pro-lifer or a believer because he said that listening to Lader speak of Catholics was like personally smelling the smoke from Auschwitz.

None of us is enhanced by the eternal damnation of another. In truth this is probably the only really rational argument against the death penalty is that we must recognize even the Lawrence Laders of this world as God's beloved children, that God created him to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world and to be happy forever with Him in the next but that God is just as well as merciful and that execution removes from the guilty some opportunity for repentance, penance and reconciliation with a heavenly Father always willing to forgive.

At the Last Judgment, we will know Lader's fate and our own. He knows his eternal status for good or for ill as we post.

Pray also for the late Amy Boissoneault who was loved by Atomic Dog. She was especially devoted to the ministry of Fr. Norman Weslin. She died of cancer at a horridly early age (or God simply wanted her home more quickly than we can imagine), having spent herself in service to the Lord and His cherished unborn. She was a beloved client, a moral heroine, and a spiritual warrior.

[FlingWingFlyer]

The world is now a better place. He won't be missed.

[JoeFromSidney]

I hope that he had a deathbed conversion. I really do.

We can always hope he did that. But it's unlikely.

[chae]

It must really suck to be him right about now.

[Robwin]

My gut reaction was to offer a prayer for his soul. I know some Christians do not practice prayers for the dead, but for those who do, I strongly encourage you to pray for the soul of this man.

[coladirienzi]

258th. trimester self-abortion. Out of idle curiosity, in which circle of Hell would Dante have placed this creature?

[don-o]

btt

[Gordongekko909]

Ever seen Trainspotting? How about Silent Hill? Yeah, now imagine that FOREVER.

[T'wit]

>> execution removes from the guilty some opportunity for repentance, penance and reconciliation with a heavenly Father always willing to forgive.

True enough, but failure to execute too often puts killers back on the street to kill again. Then it is their victims who are denied an opportunity for repentance and reconciliation with God.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, now a Catholic and a pro-life champion, was responsible for a quarter of a million abortions through his New York abortion mill before the miracle of his conversion. He had been brought up in a faithless home but was of Jewish ancestry. Dr. Nathanson was an original board member of NARAL, resigning long before he became a pro-lifer or a believer because he said that listening to Lader speak of Catholics was like personally smelling the smoke from Auschwitz.

I read Dr. Nathanson's book. It is a horrifying look at the reality of the abortion industry and the depraved freaks that inhabit it. Far from average people, the people who work in the abortion abattoirs are often seriously disturbed people - before they ever take on the job of mass murder. It is the last resort of quacks, addicts, psychological misfits and deviants.

[HIDEK6]

I guess that's fitting. Shame it wasn't 86 years earlier.

[processing please hold]

Now the souls of millions of murdered children will have their revenge.

That's the first thing I though of we I read it too.

I wonder if he wants a glass of ice water?

[processing please hold]

I hope that he had a deathbed conversion. I really do.

If you mean that then you're a better Christian than I could ever hope to be.

Personally, I hope hell is so hot his flesh drips off him like hot wax. And then, do it over again and again. I hope satan takes that abortion hose and drives it into his brain and sucks it out. Maybe do the flesh dripping off one day and brain sucking the next. For eternity. Millions and millions of babies murdered.

May God forgive me for my anger toward this creature.

[muawiyah]

Another mass murderer dead. Is there something here I am supposed to be concerned about.

[chiefqc]

Perhaps the only sounds he will hear forever are the screams of the innocent babies be torn apart.

[madprof98]

He was also active politically, serving as district leader for Representative Vito Marcantonio, who represented East Harlem and is still considered one of the country's most radical congressmen. In 1948, Mr. Lader ran for the New York State Assembly on Mr. Marcantonio's American Labor Party ticket and lost.

In other words, the guy was a Communist. And he has cheapened human life in the United States in much the same way his compatriots in Eastern Europe cheapened human life there. No wonder he is a hero to the gang at the New York Times!

[BlackElk]

I did not say that I opposed the death penalty but merely said that preserving for the perp the opportunity to repent and reconcile with God is the best argument against the death penalty.

For a relatively brief period of time, about twenty years ago, I was opposed to the death penalty on that basis. One night, then living in Connecticut, I was watching a New York City news telecast that covered the mass murder of something in excess of ten (14, I believe) women, children and infants in Brooklyn or the Bronx in a storefront converted to a residence. The victims were the family members of some Dominican Republic native narcotics dealers. The perps were rival narcotics dealers. The youngest victim was a six-month old infant machine-gunned while crawling through broken glass, debris and his/her mother's blood. I pondered the news story for about ten seconds and realized that a society that refuses to impose the death penalty on the perps of such crimes (NY had no death penalty at the time) has little business existing.

The infant could not have even been a witness against the perps. The infant's murder (and probably the rest of the murders) was pure, shocking, gratuitous, unadulterated evil of a sort that requires death as a penalty. I have not wavered on the death penalty since. I do think that the perps of such murders would be quite well advised to seek the forgiveness of their Heavenly Father before execution. They have plenty of time to repent.

[Bronzy]

I can only confess that he influenced me. Please do not ask about my......

[NewLand]

The father of the movement now has to answer to this

[NewLand]

You mean MILLIONS.

Estimated over 40 million since 1973.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Closer to 50, if you want to get technical. :-(

[T'wit]

That's a vivid story! It is ironic that murderers sentenced to death have time to repent but very often their victims do not. The law simply must be designed to deter as many murders as possible, and that requires capital punishment.

[DesScorp]

"I agree, as Christians we should hope that he repented"

You can hope, but I wouldn't bet on it.

[JoeFromSidney]

In truth this is probably the only really rational argument against the death penalty is that we must recognize even the Lawrence Laders of this world as God's beloved children, that God created him to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world and to be happy forever with Him in the next but that God is just as well as merciful and that execution removes from the guilty some opportunity for repentance, penance and reconciliation with a heavenly Father always willing to forgive.

One could equally well argue the other way, that certainty of execution by a particular date would confront the criminal on Death Row with the issue of repentance more strongly than would a sentence of "life," which is indefinite in length. As Samuel Johnson said, "Knowing that one is to be hanged in a fortnight concentrates the mind wonderfully."

[muawiyah]

The statistics concerning convicted murderers are grim. There's a very high probability that such a person will kill again ~ either a white collar criminal jailed with them, or a guard, or a visitor, or someone else if they are released.

When the law elects to allow a murderer to live, or a jury votes to let one live, the law has simply elected someone else to die in the murderer's place.

I'm not sure that is a just outcome.

[reagandemo]

He better pray that he gets there an hour before the Devil finds out. Lawrence meet Satin, Satin meet Lawrence.

[Scarchin]

Satin?