In conversation with Dr. Henry Morgentaler

Born in Poland, the 82-year-old Auschwitz survivor settled in Montreal in 1950. His life, and Canada's, would change in 1969 when he gave up a family practice and began performing abortions, which were then illegal.

The decision prompted a firestorm of criticism from government, police, the judicial system, and many religions - criticism that would continue for years and include several trials, raids on his clinics, a clinic fire-bombing and even 10 months in jail.

Legally, the matter was resolved January 28, 1988 by the Supreme Court of Canada. Yet the voices in opposition to widespread access to abortion have continued.

On June 16, Western becomes the first university to confer an honorary degree on Morgentaler.

Western News spoke with Morgentaler about that decision, and a lot more.

Western News: Why do you think it took so long to receive this kind of recognition?

Morgentaler: I have been a controversial figure in Canada for a long time and many people are opposed to what I tried to do and what I intended to do. Most of the opposition is coming from religious circles. So, I'm sort of, what you would say, 'la bête noir' (black sheep).

WN: What was your initial reaction upon hearing the news? Was there hesitation in accepting?

Morgentaler: I really appreciated that The University of Western Ontario had the guts and the courage to give me this honour. There was no hesitation at all. I was very proud of the fact they did this for me. I was very flattered. I thought this was a great sign of appreciation for what I have done in Canada and I feel proud of my achievements. Abortion is now available in most parts of the country. Women no longer die as a result of abortions because it can be done by medical doctors under good conditions. I have established eight clinics where we provide women with the best of care, done with competence and compassion in an atmosphere of understanding.

WN: It's been 17 years since the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on abortion. Are you surprised there remains so much divisiveness?

Morgentaler: It doesn't surprise me that there is some divisiveness but I don't think it should be exaggerated. The divisiveness has largely disappeared. A recent poll, two to three years ago, showed that 80 per cent of Canadians believed that abortion should be a private matter to be decided by the woman, primarily, and should be done under good conditions. That's an enormous change from the time when I started this campaign. You shouldn't forget that at the time it was a criminal offence, not only for a doctor who was threatened with life in prison if he did an abortion, but also for the woman who was threatened with two years in jail if she allowed an abortion to take place.

We have made tremendous progress. Women don't die and an important fact is that fewer children are born unwanted and we know that unwanted children are more likely to be abused, neglected or brutalized. We have fewer young people nowadays who grow up with this kind of rage in their hearts which means they take out this violence on other people by homicide or on themselves by suicide. We have fewer of these, and more young people who have more of a sense of responsibility to themselves and society, so there has been a decrease in the crime rates. Fewer children being born unwanted means a lot more children are now being born into homes where they do receive love and affection in the home and that's enormously important.

WN: We encourage young people to stand up for what they believe. Then they see your experience. Can we be assured today's youth will make a stand?

Morgentaler: If you're convinced that you're doing something right I think it's important to stick to that and be able to do that. I went so far as practicing civil disobedience to a law and that is always difficult. I'm not saying for students and everybody to use civil disobedience, but in cases where it's such an obvious injustice - where women were subjected to terrible things and possibly even death - that was enough of a cause which gave me the satisfaction that if I could help women that way, in spite of the state, that was important.

WN: You recently turned 82 years old. Does Henry Morgentaler today have the same passion he did back in the 70s and 80s?

Morgentaler: The fire is still there and the strong belief in the rightness of my cause. I'm still thinking of ways to do whatever I can to contribute to improve society because there are always things which need to be changed. This is why I hope that the young people in Canada will be open-minded to change and work for a society where people have equality, where they have rights, where nobody is persecuted because of origin, religion, belief or whatnot, and that we have an open democratic society.

WN: Is the path you chose what you expected?

Morgentaler: Nobody can know exactly what is going to happen with civil disobedience. I was very confident that the jury would acquit me. I was acquitted by four juries, but I never expected a jury verdict would be overturned because of pressure by government and anti-choice groups. I was the only Canadian who went to jail in spite of a jury acquittal. Now the law has been changed and you can no longer convict after jury acquittal. It's called the Morgentaler Amendment to the Criminal Code. So I contributed to the civil liberty of Canadians because of that and it can never happen again to other people the way it happened to me.

WN: Can you touch briefly on what you will tell students graduating June 16?

Morgentaler: I think I would probably tell them they have to be full members of society and if they have strong beliefs they should work on them. And when I say work on them I mean by democratic means. Canada is still a country where you can accomplish something by normal democratic means and we have a good democracy here and it is possible to effect change in peaceful, normal, democratic ways. Civil disobedience is not for everybody and you have to be prepared to suffer if you do that, and you have to be strongly motivated to do it.

WN: You have lived a long time in the spotlight. Are there any regrets?

Morgentaler: I have no regrets about the thrust of what I've done. I have a great deal of satisfaction that I accomplished so much and that women are no longer in danger or being threatened with bad things if they get unwillingly pregnant. I am very happy that I've been able to establish clinics where women are treated well and I have tremendous satisfaction that the crime rate has gone down and that the young generation today is less likely to consist of people who are abused and neglected as children. So I have lots of satisfaction which compensate for the unpleasantness that I have had.

Honorary Degree Recipients

Monday June 13
10 a.m. - Graduate Studies, Arts & Humanities, Information and Media Studies
Doris Anderson - LL.D

3:30 p.m. - Graduate Studies, Law, Medicine & Dentistry, Business
Bill Brock - LL.D

Tuesday June 14
10 a.m. - Graduate Studies, Education
Maude Barlow - LL.D

3:30 p.m. - Brescia, Huron, King's University Colleges
Father Edward Malloy - LL.D

Wednesday June 15
10 a.m. - Social Science
B.B. (Kym) Kymlicka - LL.D

3:30 p.m. - Graduate Studies, Music, Engineering
Robert Colcleugh - LL.D

Thursday June 16
10 a.m. - Graduate Studies, Social Science
Henry Morgentaler - LL.D

3:30 p.m. - Graduate Studies, Science, Medicine & Dentistry/Science
Bessie Borwein - D.Sc

Friday June 17
10 a.m. - Science, Social Science
Marc Lalonde - LL.D

3:30 p.m. - Graduate Studies, Health Sciences
Jack Fairs - LL.D