27 years of Morgentaler

The anniversary of Canada’s Roe v. Wade is today. 27 years since the Morgentaler decision. No cheering here, but that means ProWomanProLife is seven.

Mike Schouten of We Need a Law addresses what the decision did and did not say.

Abortion defenders enjoy referencing Justice Bertha Wilson – the first woman appointed to Canada’s Supreme Court. Unfortunately they all too often choose selective quotes that completely misrepresent what Justice Wilson wrote. It should be noted that Justice Wilson’s opinion was not shared with the other six judges – she wrote alone – and the other judges were all more “conservative” in their three written opinions; they contemplated an even more restrictive regime than Wilson.

Justice Wilson stated, “A developmental view of the foetus… supports a permissive approach to abortion in the early stages of pregnancy and a restrictive approach in the later stages…The precise point in the development of the foetus at which the state’s interest in its protection becomes “compelling” I leave to the informed judgment of the legislature… It seems to me, however, that it might fall somewhere in the second trimester.”

Justice Wilson, arguably the most iconic feminist judge in the history of our country, would be labeled an “anti-choice extremist” by the more adamant of today’s pro-choice movement. Justice Wilson was abundantly clear – abortion should not be legal throughout all the stages of fetal development as it is today. In fact, she was comfortably open to a gestational ban between 12 and 18 weeks, similar to most European countries.

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