Terry Pedwell, THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - The naming of abortion-rights activist Dr. Henry Morgentaler to the Order of Canada is being met with both applause and outrage.
The Harper government was quick to distance itself from the decision.
Morgentaler, best known for taking the issue of abortion rights all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, is among 75 people who will receive the prestigious national honour.
"The Conservative government is not involved in either deliberations or decisions with respect to which individuals are appointed to the Order of Canada," said Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"Rideau Hall makes these appointments based on the recommendations of the Advisory Council for the Order which is chaired by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada."
Morgentaler was instrumental in having the high court strike down Criminal Code restrictions on abortion on Jan. 28, 1988, making Canada the only western democracy with no criminal sanctions of any kind against abortion.
He is to be named at a later date as a member of the Order of Canada for both his health care and humanitarian work, said a statement posted Tuesday on the governor general's website.
"For his commitment to increased health care options for women, his determined efforts to influence Canadian public policy and his leadership in humanist and civil liberties organizations," the statement reads.
Author and feminist Judy Rebick said "it's about time" Morgentaler was recognized for his work.
"Certainly most women believe this is a huge victory, and he put his liberty and his life on the line to win it, and I think that should be recognized," she said. "The abortion debate is over in this country, the pro-choice side won, and Dr. Morgentaler was a big part of that victory."
But opponents of abortion say the Order of Canada is meant to unify Canadians, not divide them.
"We think the Order of Canada should focus on things that unite us, positive values," said Joanne McGarry, executive director of the Catholic Civil Rights League. "I think it should go to people who all Canadians can look up to and admire and whose undertakings are inspiring for us."
McGarry added that honouring Morgentaler implicitly endorses abortion, and many Canadians will be offended by the decision.
"Suffice it to say that a great many people would take umbrage at the award and therefore perhaps it would become a less prestigious honour," she said.
Most Rev. Thomas Collins, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto, said in a statement that the Order of Canada will be "debased" if Morgentaler receives the award.
"Canada glories in the names of Banting and Best, and the other medical heroes who selflessly brought healing where there was disease and suffering," the statement said. "Now it honours with the Order of Canada a medical man who has brought not healing, but the destruction of the defenceless and immeasurable grief."
But Rebick said many people who have received the Order of Canada in the past haven't made "anywhere near the impact" on Canadian society that Morgentaler has.
"If you want to make change in the world, you have to be controversial," she said. "That's part of being a change agent, and Dr. Morgentaler is a change agent, and we should celebrate that in this country."
Morgentaler, a Polish-born physician who survived the infamous Dachau concentration camp, quit his family practice in Montreal in 1968 to open his first abortion clinic in defiance of the laws of the day.
He soon found himself before the courts, where he was acquitted by a jury that accepted his defence of medial necessity for the abortions he performed. But the verdict was overturned on appeal and he went to jail for 10 months.
It took three more trials and three more acquittals - two in Quebec, one in Ontario - before his case made it to the Supreme Court.
The Order of Canada is the country's highest civilian honour to recognize a lifetime of outstanding achievement and dedication to community.
6 comments:
Can you explain to me why Canada is the only country in the world that allows an 8 month old fetus to be chopped up and removed from the womb?
Can you please explain how that is in society's interest?
Can you also explain why that same 8 month old fetus cannot be adopted and giving to loving parents?
I know you're a hardcore leftist so I would like to hear your opinion.
johnathon, you so miss the issue and the point, it's astonishing really.
No one and I mean no one is pro-abortion in this country.
That someone sought to make it safe, (because of course you do know that it will happen regardless), is someone who should be recognised.
I notice that your guy Harper is pretty silent on this. Where do you go now?
It is truly a sad day for this country when it honours and awards a person who is directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent lives. I don't agree with abortion but understand why some support it. Today was a tragedy - how sick is it that we give our highest honour to such an unworthy individual?
Today I am embarrassed to be Canadian. Henry Morgentaler does not unify or help women, he harms them. Abortion is a big business, and Henry made a killing at it.
The emotional harm done to women who abort their babies is on his shoulders. I cry along with the babies who were so mercilessly ripped from their mothers' wombs and discarded as nothing more than tissue.
God help Canada as it goes down this path. God help Henry Morgentaler.
Georgia Santucci
Vancouver, BC
Morton you dont get it do you !!!!!!!
the controversy isn't nearly over.. not by a long shot. Many, many people I know are up in arms over this. People who have never sent a letter or e-mail to any government body are suddenly writing letters on this one. It's outrageous. Someone on the advisory board should have had the sense to decline this nomination.
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