An activist who stood up against the establishment
in defense of those who did not have a voice - woman and the right to control their reproductive destiny - died today.
Whether you were a fan or not of Morgentaler's crusade, one must admire him for his courage and bravery.
A true warrior and champion, Morgentaler believed in a cause and acted on it. He left no stone unturned in defending a right he felt women in this country should have.
They say that life prepares us for our calling.
This was a man who spent five years in the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Dachau. He knew about rights and the lack of them. His mother's death in that camp forged in him a passion to defend the right of other women to live the way they wanted to live.
When his calling came, he was not backing down. He was ready, willing and able to engage in a showdown with the legal authorities. His fight peaked in the 1988 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada that rendered Canada's long-standing policy on abortion as "unconstitutional".
Carlose Castaneda once said that
A warrior considers himself already dead, so there is nothing to lose. The worst has already happened to him, therefore he's clear and calm; judging him by his acts or by his words, one would never suspect that he has witnessed everything
The truth is that Morgentaler probably already "died"
a thousand deaths in that Holocaust camp.
Everything after that was but a calm shoot of the arrow.
The end result is that women are no longer shamed for criminal activity if they make a choice about their reproductive status. Granted,access to abortion in all provinces is still not equally available.
No woman truly wants to have an abortion,
but if they have to,
they can thank Dr. Henry Morgentaler for the freedom
without being branded a criminal in our country.
In this life we can walk away from a battle or we can stand and face the fear to defend our principles and convictions and the rights of others.
Henry Morgentaller made a choice that women should have a choice
- a crusade of courage that will withstand the test of time.
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If I help women to have babies at a time
when they can give love and affection,
they will not grow up to be rapists or murders.
They will not build concentration camps.”
-Henry Morgentaler
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