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Landmark Case

R v Morgentaler

Constitutional Rights and Civil Liberties

R v Morgentaler was a 1988 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada striking down the Criminal Code provision that required abortions to be approved by a therapeutic abortion committee at an accredited hospital, holding that the procedural barriers this system imposed violated a woman's right to security of the person under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Doctor Henry Morgentaler had been repeatedly prosecuted for performing abortions outside the approved committee system. The ruling left Canada with no federal criminal law restricting abortion at any stage of pregnancy, a status that has remained unchanged since.

Facts
Decision Year
1988 1
Decision Date
1988-01-28 1
Holding
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled five to two that section 251 of the Criminal Code violated the right to security of the person guaranteed by section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and could not be saved under section 1, restoring the acquittal of Doctor Henry Morgentaler and his co-accused. 1
Current Status
Controlling precedent since 1988. There have been no criminal laws regulating abortion in Canada since this ruling, and later legislative attempts to re-criminalize abortion failed in Parliament. 1
Case Status
Case Status (category)
Controlling Precedent 1
Connections

Decided By

Supreme Court of Canada, Courts

Decided by the Supreme Court of Canada, 1988.

In Legal System

Common Law, Legal Systems

Matches the existing R v Oakes precedent for Canadian Supreme Court rulings on this atlas.

In the Other Atlases

Found In

Canada

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources
1. R v Morgentaler (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • Infobox, decided-date field
  • Infobox, ratio field
    Section 251 of the Criminal Code violates a woman's right to security of person under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and cannot be saved under section 1 of the Charter.
  • Lead paragraph, aftermath sentence
    Since this ruling, there have been no criminal laws regulating abortion in Canada.
  • In Group: Privacy, Reproduction and Personal Autonomy Cases, Introduction
    is a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada which held that the abortion provision in the Criminal Code was unconstitutional because it violated women's rights to security of the person under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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