You are pro-life. You have followed Canada’s abortion lawlessness. You have prayed, campaigned, voted and protested. You have seen the effects of denying the humanity of the unborn on others who are vulnerable. And you have been slapped in the face.

When Henry Morgentaler can be nominated to the Order of Canada, we can be grateful for only one thing. There are still enough of us to object and to resurrect what was supposedly politely settled. Abortion is being discussed again, openly. All the incongruities of false arguments and inconsistencies in logic are exposed not only in pro-life or religious publications. Yes, when Dr. Morgentaler was nominated, the thin veneer keeping the topic all shiny and bright cracked wide open.

I use the title “doctor” out of necessity, not respect. We need to remind ourselves of Morgentaler’s priorities and practices as revealed over the course of his career. He makes a poor poster boy for abortion rights advocates.

In 1974, The Montreal Gazette reported that Dr. Morgentaler reused disposable polyethylene vacurettes on patients contrary to manufacturers’ instructions which stated “cannot be reused”. Though he denies it today, the paper claimed he admitted doing so in a letter to the manufacturer. The practice could have exposed patients to viral hepatitis, tetanus, STDs and herpes II.

In 1976, the Professional Corporation of Physicians of Québec suspended Dr. Morgentaler’s licence for one year. The committtee emphasized his suspension was for not only performing illegal abortions but for not performing proper interviews to obtain case histories or even performing the obvious: a pregnancy test or a blood test to conform the pregnancy. His aftercare was non-existent when he neither followed up on his patients’ state of health nor obtained pathological testing of the aborted ‘tissues’. This same panel found his attitude “primarily directed to protecting his fees.” The committee found that in the examined case “... no really valid interview is held before proceeding with the abortion. This behaviour confers a mercenary character on the doctor -patient relationship. This committe is incapable of reconciling this behaviour with the humanitarian concern that the accused invoked throughout his defence... These factors reveal a medical practice which this committee cannot reconcile with the practice of good medicine. “

We know Dr. Morgentaler operates freestanding for profit clinics. We know the country is poorer for abortions. At least, for the time being, others are talking about it too. At least, we’re not alone.

This same panel found his attitude “primarily directed to protecting his fees.”