This Nurse Helped Perform An Abortion Before Roe; Now She's Pro-Life

What would you do if a respected colleague asked you to participate in an act that could destroy a human life? Leta Gerber found herself in this situation when a renowned OBGYN asked for her help performing a saline infusion abortion in the hospital unit where she was employed. A day later, she saw the body of a fully-formed little boy in a bucket with a burned body in a hospital closet. It was then that she felt incredibly convicted that her participation in abortion was morally wrong and destroyed a precious baby. This occurred in the 1970s in Michigan before Roe v. Wade was passed — two psychiatrists had determined the mother was suicidal and should therefore abort, making a legal exception to destroy her preborn son. When Leta made her way to the bedside, she found a woman who was not actively suicidal or engaging in self-harm behaviors; instead, the woman appeared to be using abortion as a form of birth control — this was the woman's 3rd or 4th abortion.In this episode, we talk about Leta's story of becoming pro-life, what she would say to other medical professionals who have helped perform abortions, the ethics of "mental health of the mother" exceptions in abortion laws that can justify the killing of babies in situations that may not have any physiological danger to the mother, and what gave Leta the boldness to share her story in her conservative community.