Born in Poland, Dr. Henry Morgentaler survived the
Holocaust and came to Canada at the end of World War II. After completing
medical studies at the Université de Montréal, he opened a family practice
in Montreal. As a Humanist leader, he promoted the idea that people had a
right to control their own sexuality and reproduction, without
interference by the state.
In 1967, he presented a brief on behalf of the Humanist Fellowship of
Montréal to the House of Common’s Health and Welfare Committee, where he
urged that Canada’s restrictive abortion law be repealed. In 1968, Dr.
Morgentaler founded the Humanist Association of Canada, of which he is now
Honourary President.
Dr. Morgentaler founded the Canada’s first abortion clinic in Montreal in
1968. In the following years, he challenged the criminal code in Canada by
providing safe abortions for women in his clinic in Montreal, and later in
Toronto and Winnipeg, in a campaign of civil disobedience to an unjust
law. Dr. Morgentaler faced several trials and was acquitted each time
by a jury; he went to jail for 10 months for his convictions when a
jury acquittal was reversed by a higher court. His belief in a “Woman’s
Right to Choose” eventually led to a change in the law. Finally, after
years of struggle, the law against abortion was declared unconstitutional
and struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada on January 28, 1988. He has
continued to campaign province-by-province seeking to provide abortion
services to women deprived of access, a struggle that continues to this
day. Throughout his long campaign Dr. Morgentaler has received the loyalty
and support of women’s groups across the country who lobbied governments
and raised funds for legal fees.
In June of 2005, Dr. Morgentaler was honoured with a doctorate of law from
the University of Western Ontario. Today, he operates six clinics in
Canada providing excellent care for women in need of abortion and
contraceptive services. ( text provided by couch.ca)
