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'...