George W. Bush bares family tragedy that changed him forever

(By LEONARD GREENE, NYPOST.com) - George W. Bush's pro-life stance solidified when he was a teenager in Texas -- after his mother suffered a devastating miscarriage and showed him the fetus in a jar, the former president said in an extraordinary interview that airs tonight.

"She said to her teenage kid, 'Here's the fetus,' " the shockingly candid Bush told NBC's Matt Lauer, gesturing as if he were holding the jar during the TV chat, a DVD of which The Post exclusively obtained.

"There's no question that affected me, a philosophy that we should respect life," said the former president, who had to drive his distraught mother to the hospital at the time.

"I never expected to see the remains of the fetus, which she had saved in a jar to bring to the hospital," Bush writes in his new book, "Decision Points," in an excerpt Lauer read during the interview.

"There was a human life, a little brother or sister," Bush told the "Today" host during the sit-down to promote his tome, which hits stores tomorrow.

Bush said his mother gave him special permission to recount the private story in print.