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With closure of Morgentaler abortion clinic, a small victory in New Brunswick

Jul 24, 2014

 

By Mike Schouten, Executive Director, Weneedalaw.ca

Editor’s note. It is not the slightest exaggeration to say that the late abortionist Henry Morgentaler was an iconic figure in the history of abortion in Canada.

Abortionist Henry Morgentaler

Abortionist Henry Morgentaler

He took his case challenging the already-weakened abortion law to the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1988 the justices “struck down the law,” wrote Dr. Paul Ranalli, “on the narrow grounds that access to hospitals with abortion committees and services were unevenly available across the country, and that this regional difference constituted a threat to the security of women, as defined by the recently drafted Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

While striking down the existing law, the justices suggested that Parliament could enact new laws. That was 26 years ago and there is still no abortion law in Canada. None.

The Morgentaler abortion Clinic in Fredericton (the capital of the province of New Brunswick) is the province’s only private abortion clinic. It opened in June 1994 and has provided abortion services to more than 10,000 women,” according to CBC News.

The way funding works in New Brunswick is that the government funds hospital abortions deemed medically necessary by two doctors. That does not apply to private facilities.

In 2002 Morgentaler sued the New Brunswick government to force it to fund abortions in his clinic. But he died in May 2013, before a decision was rendered.

In April, with the news that the Morgentaler clinic would close its doors in July due to “funding shortfalls,” pro-abortionists seized on the closure to raise a lot of money. The larger battle continues on but for now Morgentaler’s clinic is out of the abortion business.

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It is a sad day for abortion advocates in Canada. After more than 20 years of operation, today will be the last day the Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton, New Brunswick will end the lives of pre-born children.

Even in spite of a crowd funding effort that reportedly raised more than $100,000 the clinic will close its doors for the last time at the end of the month.

The province of New Brunswick has become a battleground in recent months with pro-choice advocates demanding the government remove Regulation 84-20 which stipulates that a pre-born child can only be killed with public money if the act is carried out in a hospital and has been approved by two doctors. Meanwhile, pro-life activists have been encouraging Premier David Alward and his government not to capitulate to those demands. Provincial governments have the constitutional responsibility to regulate health care, which the courts say includes the regulation of abortion.

It remains to be seen if the clinic’s closure will lower the number of lives ended in New Brunswick, but as the forceps and suction machines are used for the last time today, we celebrate a small achievement.