Abortion Practitioner Morgentaler Recieves Order of Canada Award Friday
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 9, 2008
Ottawa, Canada (LifeNews.com) — Infamous abortion practitioner Henry Morgentaler has been slated to receive the Order of Canada award for weeks and new of that has sparked national outrage. On Friday, the man whose actions led to legal abortions across Canada will finally receive the medal.
The Governor General’s office, which bestows the award, said a ceremony will be held in Quebec City.
The office applauded Morgentaler in a press release for having "a major impact on Canadian public policy" and putting himself "at risk in his determined drive to increase health-care options for Canadian women."
It claims Morgentaler has "heightened awareness of women’s reproductive health issues among medical professionals and the Canadian public."
Not everyone sees the man who opened up Canada to legal abortions in 1988 as the saint the way the Governor General’s office does.
Denise Mountenay, the head of the Canada Silent No More Campaign, a group for women who have had abortions and regret their decisions because of physical complications or mental health issues afterwards, told LifeNews.com she is disappointed.
She complained that the Governor General’s office "has ignored thousands of letters and signatures of opposition to Henry Morgentaler getting the Order of Canada."
"Furthermore, they have ignored the fact that nine former recipients of the Order of Canada have returned their medals in protest to Morgentaler being a recipient," she added.
That includes Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte, the Catholic archbishop of Montreal.
Last month, the Canadian Judicial Council dismissed a complaint that pro-life advocates filed in response to the award. The complaint centered on Canada Supreme Court Justice Beverley McLachlin, who had defended her role in overseeing the award.
Charles McVety, president of the Canadian Family Action Coalition, said the chief justice should no longer sit on the Order of Canada panel because some award recipients, like Morgentaler, are involved in legal disputes that will eventually come before the court.
At the end of July, KLRVU surveyed Canadians and learned that a clear majority oppose giving Morgentaler the award.
The poll included 13,324 respondents when the firm conducted it from July 17-21.
The random telephone poll of Canadian households found 55.8% of Canadians oppose the awarding of the medal to the man who helped usher in unlimited abortions in Canada paid for at taxpayer expense.
The poll found opposition to the award across the provinces.
"For years he totally ignored the laws of the land and has profited, making millions of dollars. He and his clinics have been sued for damages to women, and he has lost his medical license for inappropriate behaviour," Mountenary says.
"Morgentaler has created an abortion on demand culture, where every day over three hundred babies are aborted in our nation," she told LifeNews.com. "Abortion is not ‘real health care’ for pregnant women."
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