Bernard N. Nathanson

In April 1970, in the pages of the Obstetrical and Gynecological Review, I reviewed the history of attempts to control population growth by means of medical—i.e., nonsurgical—abortion. Starting in antiquity, I found that the ancient Greeks did not generally approve of abortion, . . . . Continue Reading »

Medicine Ethics, and the Third Reich: Historical and Contemporary Issues Edited by John J. Michalczyk Sheed & Ward 240 pages. $19.95 Arthur Cohen has characterized it as “beyond the deliberations of reason, beyond the discernments of moral judgments, beyond meaning itself,” and defined it as . . . . Continue Reading »

The Gene Wars: Science, Politics, and the Human Genome By Robert Cook-Deegan Norton. 416 pp. $25 I must confess that I didn’t understand genetics in high school biology; I understood it but loathed it in college; and I continued to loathe it in medical school. I found it boring, static, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Do you pray? How often? Whom (or what) do you pray to (or for)? Does your prayer accomplish anything demonstrable by ordinary means? Do you find yourself praying more frequently when you or your loved ones are ill? Do you ever pray (come on now, be honest) that ill may befall your adversary? Do you . . . . Continue Reading »

The Human Body Shop: The Engineering and Marketing of Life by Andrew Kimbrell HarperCollins, 348 pages, $22 What Ralph Nader did to the auto barons, what Rachel Carson did to the pesticide pirates, Andrew Kimbrell has now done to biotechnology. He has thrown himself against that remorseless machine . . . . Continue Reading »

Koop: The Memoirs of America’s Family Doctor by C. Everett Koop Random House, 342 pages, $22.50 What baleful things may befall a rugged, plain-spoken, life-affirming man when he ventures into that great bourne called The Beltway—that is the (probably unintended) theme of the autobiography . . . . Continue Reading »