blake 3:17
29th May 2013, 22:29
Whoa. A hero is gone. I only met Morgentaler a couple of times and like a lot of others of my generation, we were kind of speechless. "Thanks!" was about all that could come out. Much love.
Abortion rights crusader Henry Morgentaler, revered and hated, dead at 90
SANDRA MARTIN
The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, May. 29 2013, 12:51 PM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, May. 29 2013, 3:16 PM EDT
Henry Morgentaler, the family doctor who led the abortion movement in Canada, died of a heart attack at his Toronto home early Wednesday. He was 90.
Dr. Morgentaler, who was the focus of both reverence and hatred, was one of the key players in the 1988 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that declared the law prohibiting abortion unconstitutional. He is survived by his wife, Arlene, four children, several grandchildren and his extended family. Funeral arrangements are private.
...
A Holocaust survivor, whose defiance of authority was steeped in bitter experience, a humanist, an atheist and a lover of the spotlight, Dr. Morgentaler was revered by pro-abortion advocates and reviled by those who opposed them. In the last half-century, he was lauded, arrested, and jailed. His Toronto clinic was destroyed by arsonists, he was physically threatened and was awarded an honorary degree and the Order of Canada. Today, it is hard to say which changed more – him or the country that accepted him as a 26-year-old immigrant in 1950.
...
Risking prison, especially for somebody who had survived a concentration camp, must have been traumatic, but in an exclusive interview with The Globe in December, 2008, he said that his ability to “fight for the rights of women,” even though it was against the law, was like “a statement on my part that I know what is the right thing to do and I will do my part in helping a minority of people who were discriminated against and made to risk their lives at the hands of incompetent people and charlatans.” To him, performing abortions “was a field of endeavour where I could do something positive with my life, even though I exposed myself to danger.” In that respect, defying the law made him feel good and worthwhile and satisfied his Humanist beliefs.
...
In fact, Dr. Morgentaler was not responsible for making abortion legal in Canada. He challenged the existing law, which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in 1988. That left Canada without a law either forbidding or condoning abortion. In this void, abortion became a medical procedure governed by provincial and medical regulations – in all their variety. In 1989 in Quebec, Jean-Guy Tremblay got a court injunction to prevent his pregnant girlfriend, Chantal Daigle, from getting an abortion. Ms. Daigle went secretly to the United States where she had her pregnancy terminated, but the case went to the Supreme Court nonetheless. On Nov. 16, 1989, the Court ruled that a fetus is not a person in either Canadian common law or Quebec civil law. In other words, prospective fathers could no longer legally try to stop their partners from obtaining abortions by claiming to be protecting fetal rights. This was a huge victory for women’s right to control their own reproduction.
The following year, Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney introduced Bill C-43, under which doctors could be sentenced to two years in jail for performing abortions on women whose lives were not in danger. The bill was passed by the House, but failed to win approval on a tie vote in the Senate.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/abortion-rights-crusader-henry-morgentaler-revered-and-hated-dead-at-90/article12221564/?page=1
Abortion rights crusader Henry Morgentaler, revered and hated, dead at 90
SANDRA MARTIN
The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, May. 29 2013, 12:51 PM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, May. 29 2013, 3:16 PM EDT
Henry Morgentaler, the family doctor who led the abortion movement in Canada, died of a heart attack at his Toronto home early Wednesday. He was 90.
Dr. Morgentaler, who was the focus of both reverence and hatred, was one of the key players in the 1988 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that declared the law prohibiting abortion unconstitutional. He is survived by his wife, Arlene, four children, several grandchildren and his extended family. Funeral arrangements are private.
...
A Holocaust survivor, whose defiance of authority was steeped in bitter experience, a humanist, an atheist and a lover of the spotlight, Dr. Morgentaler was revered by pro-abortion advocates and reviled by those who opposed them. In the last half-century, he was lauded, arrested, and jailed. His Toronto clinic was destroyed by arsonists, he was physically threatened and was awarded an honorary degree and the Order of Canada. Today, it is hard to say which changed more – him or the country that accepted him as a 26-year-old immigrant in 1950.
...
Risking prison, especially for somebody who had survived a concentration camp, must have been traumatic, but in an exclusive interview with The Globe in December, 2008, he said that his ability to “fight for the rights of women,” even though it was against the law, was like “a statement on my part that I know what is the right thing to do and I will do my part in helping a minority of people who were discriminated against and made to risk their lives at the hands of incompetent people and charlatans.” To him, performing abortions “was a field of endeavour where I could do something positive with my life, even though I exposed myself to danger.” In that respect, defying the law made him feel good and worthwhile and satisfied his Humanist beliefs.
...
In fact, Dr. Morgentaler was not responsible for making abortion legal in Canada. He challenged the existing law, which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in 1988. That left Canada without a law either forbidding or condoning abortion. In this void, abortion became a medical procedure governed by provincial and medical regulations – in all their variety. In 1989 in Quebec, Jean-Guy Tremblay got a court injunction to prevent his pregnant girlfriend, Chantal Daigle, from getting an abortion. Ms. Daigle went secretly to the United States where she had her pregnancy terminated, but the case went to the Supreme Court nonetheless. On Nov. 16, 1989, the Court ruled that a fetus is not a person in either Canadian common law or Quebec civil law. In other words, prospective fathers could no longer legally try to stop their partners from obtaining abortions by claiming to be protecting fetal rights. This was a huge victory for women’s right to control their own reproduction.
The following year, Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney introduced Bill C-43, under which doctors could be sentenced to two years in jail for performing abortions on women whose lives were not in danger. The bill was passed by the House, but failed to win approval on a tie vote in the Senate.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/abortion-rights-crusader-henry-morgentaler-revered-and-hated-dead-at-90/article12221564/?page=1