Pro-Life Coalition refused intervenor status in Morgentaler Lawsuit
By Carroll Rees

On January 27, 2005, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal upheld the decision to deny the Coalition for Life and Health’s request to intervene as a third party in Morgentaler’s lawsuit against the Province of New Brunswick. Morgentaler is suing the province for refusing to fund abortions at his private clinic in Fredericton. Currently, only abortions performed in hospitals and approved by two physicians are funded by the province. The appeal was denied and the Coalition for Life and Health was ordered to pay costs of $1500.00 to Henry Morgentaler.

The judge upheld the previous court’s decision which claimed that the pro-life coalition had nothing to contribute to the court case because their focus is on the morality of abortion and this case is about the allocation of public funds. On the question of possible harm to women from abortion at Morgentaler clinics, the initial trial judge Mr. Justice David Russell, cited 1993 and 1988 comments by Supreme Court justices Sopinka and Beetz, respectively, in support of the safety of abortions at private clinics. He went to say “should the standard of care become a substantive issue…the Province is in a position to bring evidence to bear on this topic.” Judge Russell went on to say “The central issue here is whether the Charter of Rights and Freedoms imposes an obligation on the Province to provide funding for abortions performed at the plaintiff’s clinic. Any intervention by the applicant [the Coalition for Life and Health] would not be of assistance to the Court in determining that question.” The Coalition strongly disagrees with this judgment.

This decision means that unborn children will not be represented in court when Morgentaler’s case against the province is heard, women who have been harmed by abortion will not have an opportunity to testify to the devastating impact abortion has had on their lives and citizens opposed to tax funded abortion will not have a say. Furthermore, the coalition has been denied the opportunity to challenge Morgentaler’s erroneous claim that the Supreme Court of Canada granted women a constitutional right to abortion. Peter Ryan, Executive Director of New Brunswick Right to Life, issued the following short statement in response to the Court of Appeal’s decision.

Comments on the New Brunswick Court of Appeal’s decision (January 27, 2005) on the appeal by the Coalition for Life and Health of the decision (April 2, 2004) by the Court of Queen’s Bench in the matter of a proposed intervention in the lawsuit of Henry Morgentaler against the Province of New Brunswick:

Thousands of New Brunswick babies who would - if Morgentaler succeeds - be killed on demand by tax-funded abortion will have no voice in court. Mothers who would, under public auspices, suffer, and have actually suffered, grievous lifelong health damage from Morgentaler clinic abortions, will have no voice. Taxpayers who would be forced to pay for massive prenatal violence will have no direct voice. And this is justice?

The day of this decision, January 27, 2005, is a day of shame for New Brunswick.

The Coalition for Life and Health has not yet decided if it will appeal this decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Carroll Rees is the Executive Director of LifeCanada