Henry Morgentaler

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Henry Morgentaler (2005)

Henry Morgentaler (born March 19, 1923 in Łódź , Poland , † May 29, 2013 in Toronto ), a native of Henekh Morgentaler , was a Canadian doctor who enforced the unrestricted right to abortion in Canada .

Life

Morgentaler was born in Łódź as the son of the Polish Jews Golda Nitka and Josef Morgentaler. The Nazis forced him and his family into the Litzmannstadt ghetto and later took them to Auschwitz , where he and his brother were separated from their parents. His parents were murdered there and he was later taken to Dachau concentration camp , where the US Army liberated him in 1945.

After studying medicine in Germany, he emigrated to Canada in 1950 with his then wife, the poet Chava Rosenfarb . There he initially worked as a family doctor and campaigned for women's rights to abortion. In 1969 he opened Canada's first abortion clinic in Montreal , the activity of which contradicted the legal situation at the time and provoked fierce opposition from abortion opponents.

After multiple arrests, convictions, and prison terms in the 1970s, a 1983 Ontario conviction was eventually referred to the Supreme Court of Canada . He declared in 1988 that Canada's abortion law was against the constitution . Since then, Canada has had an unrestricted right to abortion.

Morgentaler was the first President of the Humanist Association of Canada from 1968 to 1999 and was its Honorary President thereafter. In 1983 he was attacked with a hedge trimmer by the militant anti-abortion opponent Augusto Dantas. Journalist Judy Rebick prevented the attack and Morgentaler was unharmed. In May 1992 a bomb attack was carried out on the Morgentaler Clinic in Toronto .

Honors

In 1975 the American Humanist Association voted him Humanist of the Year . In 2005, Henry Morgentaler received an honorary doctorate from the University of Western Ontario . In July 2008 he was made a member of the Order of Canada , the appointment was a controversial public. For example, the former politician and medalist Gilbert Finn returned his medal in protest on the occasion of Morgentaler's honor.

literature

  • Eleanor Wright Pelrine: Morning Thaler . The Doctor Who Couldn't Turn Away . Goodread Biographies, Halifax 1983, ISBN 978-0-88780-119-8 .
  • Catherine Dunphy: Morning Thaler. A difficult hero . John Wiley and Sons, 2003, ISBN 978-0-470-83356-8 .

Web links

Commons : Henry Morgentaler  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Henry Morgentaler, abortion crusader, at 90 dead
  2. ↑ Biography of Chava Rosenfarb
  3. ↑ Vue Weekly: Edmonton's 100% Independent Weekly: NO ACCESS, NO CHOICE ( Memento from January 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ G. Bagley: Bombing of Toronto abortion clinic raises stakes in bitter debate. In: Canadian Medical Association Journal. Volume 147, Number 10, November 1992, pp. 1528-1533, PMID 1423091 , PMC 1336558 (free full text).
  5. ↑ abortion crusader deeply divides Canadian society. In: CBC News . July 2, 2008, archived from the original on July 27, 2013 ; accessed on July 2, 2008 .
  6. ↑ CBC News
personal data
SURNAME Morgentaler, Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian doctor and activist for the right to abortion
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Łódź
DATE OF DEATH May 29, 2013
Place of death Toronto