Abortionist haunted by dreams of torn-apart babies

It's not always easy to get into the mind of an abortionist. When it happens, the images can be disturbing.

Dr. William Rashbaum performed thousands of abortions, both early and late-term, during his career before his death in 2005.

As a young physician, Rashbaum was regularly called to attend women who had been seriously injured by illegal abortions. Following the legalization of abortion in 1973, he performed the procedure in New York City and taught abortion techniques to thousands of medical students, residents and practicing physicians. He also trained hundreds of physicians to handle challenging cases arising from late-term abortions.

As an older man, Rashbaum was "fiercely protective of those in need of his services and [had] absolutely no patience for those doubting their motivations," according to a 2003 Mother Jones article. He performed abortions other doctors wouldn't do because of technical difficulties.

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The article admitted what troubled doctors with late-term abortions was not just the technical aspects, but "as a pregnancy progresses, the fetus increasingly resembles a baby."

The frequent comparison of abortion statistics with the Holocaust of World War II infuriates many people, yet it may surprise pro-lifers to know one of the first to publicly make the comparison was Dr. Rashbaum.

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In a 1977 interview with the New York Times Magazine, Rashbaum told the reporter "he sometimes had troubling thoughts while doing abortions, as well as disturbing dreams about aborted babies."

"One image that often haunted him was the mental picture of a pre-born baby hanging onto the walls of her mother's womb with her tiny fingernails as Rashbaum tried to abort her," wrote Sarah Terzo on Live Action News.

Seeing the torn-apart bodies of aborted babies was a daily occurrence for Rashbaum, so disturbing thoughts and dreams come as no surprise. When the New York Magazine reporter asked how Rashbaum dealt with such images, he replied: "Learned to live with it. Like people in concentration camps."

Seemingly taken aback, the reporter asked Rashbaum if he really meant to make such an extreme comparison.

The abortionist replied: "I think it's apt – destruction of life. Look! I'm a person, I'm entitled to my feelings. And my feelings are who gave me or anybody the right to terminate a pregnancy? I'm entitled to that feeling, but I also have no right communicating it to the patient who desperately wants that abortion. I don't get paid for my feelings. I get paid for my skills ... I'll be frank. I began to do abortions in large numbers at the time of my divorce when I needed money. But I also believe in the woman's right to control their biological destiny. I spent a lot of years learning to deliver babies. Sure, it sometimes hurts to end life instead of bringing it into the world."

An avowed atheist, Rashbaum performed roughly 21,000 late-term abortions and an unknown number of early-term abortions during his career.