By Thea Jarvis

Describing embryo experimentation as "the second horror of this century after the atom bomb," Dr. Margaret White, J.P., opened the National Right to Life convention in Atlanta June 6 with an examination of invitro fertilization and its results.

"We went through a door that had 'no entry' on it," said Dr. White, 72, who is a diplomate of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in England and mother of a child born with Down syndrome. She founded the Anna Fund for research and education on Down syndrome in response to the attitude she encountered from the medical profession when her daughter was born.

Addressing participants at the three-day convention, which drew over a thousand people from across the country, Dr. White contended that invitro fertilization leads to embryo research that can ultimately result in a quest for "designer human beings."

Invitro fertilization is a procedure in which fertilization of an egg takes place outside the mother's womb, in an artificial environment, and implantation can then follow.

Dr. White dismissed arguments for embryo experimentation -- the possibility of a cure for cancer, the prevention of handicaps and other humanitarian goals -- as cover-ups for a hidden agenda that focuses on genetic engineering and the development of new abortifacients.

The fact that a woman's body does not naturally reject its own fetus is "one of nature's miracles," she said. Searching for a way to neutralize that miracle is one of the main designs of those who cultivate embryos for research purposes, developing drugs that are abortifacient, she said.

In the area of genetic engineering, sex selection is only the first step in a technical evolution which can dramatically change the characterization of offspring, Dr. White claimed.

"Invitro fertilization is like the nose of the camel," she said. "If the tip of the camel's nose is in your tent, you'll find him in bed with you in the morning."

"It's quite terrifying the power we have at manipulating" the birth process, she said.

Dr. White's talk followed an introduction by incoming National Right to Life Committee president, Wanda Franz, who alluded to recent state legislation that appears to "take us away from the current extreme of abortion on demand and towards what most Americans want, meaningful protection for unborn children."

Ms. Franz, a developmental psychologist and professor of child development at West Virginia University, succeeded Dr. John Willke, who has headed the NRLC for the past 10 years.

The convention overlapped the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention held at the Georgia World Congress Center not far from the NRLC's site at the Atlanta Hilton.

President George Bush arrived in Atlanta June 6 to deliver a closing address to the Southern Baptist Convention. Earlier that day he had given a videotaped message to the NRLC at their early morning opening.

"All life is precious and deserves protection," Bush told NRLC members, adding his hope that the entire country, like many states passing laws protective of life, will eventually establish norms that reflect such an attitude.

In his address to Southern Baptists, Bush said he opposed federal funding of abortions except where the life of the mother is endangered.

Dr. White, following Bush, said, "Man's capacity for evil made the pro-life movement necessary. Thank God man's capacity for good made it possible."

Running concurrently with the NRLC, the National Teens for Life convention drew close to 100 participants in the same hotel complex. Corrie Strand, National Teens for Life president, said the basic focus of the group was education.

"Our responsibility and our privilege is to work to end abortion on demand," said Ms. Strand, 17, a rising high school senior from Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

"It's definitely an uphill battle with teens," Ms. Strand admitted, although she believes teenagers are "innately pro-life." Their exposure to the "death ethic," she said, which promotes the idea that people are better off dead than burdened with physical or social problems, has made inroads into the teen psyche.

When presented with informational material on fetal development, methods of abortion and its effect on women, however, "They're mad," Ms. Strand said. "They can't believe that's what happens in the womb. That's when they realize they have to do something."

Because of education, teen membership in the right to life movement is "definitely on the increase, dramatically on the increase," she said.

At one session, teens who gathered to view an ultrasound video on fetal development presented by registered ultrasonagrapher Shari Richard saw the busy movements of a growing baby in utero.

"We have the truth on our side," Ms. Richard told an audience of young people at the close of the video, which she produced and now distributes for use in schools and church groups.

"The scientific fact is that these are living human beings," she said. "The legal fact is that they are innocent."

Ms. Richard, who underwent two abortions as a teenager, said she felt, "The medical profession lied to me," dismissing a developing fetus as "a blob of tissue." Now the mother of three children, she said that after her training in ultrasound school, "The reality of what I did hit me. I was suffering."

Molly Kelly, a Catholic homemaker and mother of eight who was widowed over 15 years ago, led a workshop for adults on reaching and activating youth.

"We really are winning our young people over," said Mrs. Kelly, who promotes "saved sex" or chastity as an appropriate choice for teenagers.

"Young people are our path to victory," she said. "Teens have more power than we think they have."

Mrs. Kelly echoed the voices of others, including President Bush, who questionas the political reality of abortion in the United States.

"It is absolutely unacceptable in a nation that proclaims liberty and justice for all," she said.