Been there, done that!
In recording and researching the history of abortion, particularly the history of abortion in Canada, one is amazed to see that nothing really changes.
The arguments used in favor of abortion rights in Canada are old and tired. Used frequently and without thought, the purveyors and supporters of child killing regurgitate their doctrines and prove, once again, that there truly is “nothing new under the sun.”
For example, just this month we had Henry Morgentaler remind us once again that he and the other abortionists in Canada have saved Canadian society from unspeakable horrors. He was, of course, referring to the recent eugenic study that claimed that abortion has led to a downturn in the crime rate. Henry has been spreading this dogma for years, but now that is has garnered some quasi-legitimacy, he is back on the debate circuit touting this view of the salvation of mankind.
Been there done that.
Eugenics in Canada
In March of 1925 the Ontario Birth Control League was established. Like it’s Vancouver counterpart (begun after a visit by Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger) the group was based on the eugenic notion that there were far too many children being born to “criminals” and “morons.” It’s founder, Dr. O.C.J. Withrow, was a dedicated eugenics activist, thrown in jail in May 1927 when he was found guilty of performing an abortion on a woman that resulted in her death. He served three years in the Kingston penitentiary and was allowed back in the medical profession in 1933.
In 1933, the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) reprinted an address by Dr. H.A. Bruce, Lieutenant Governor of Canada, given to the Hamilton Canadian Club. Angus McLaren writes in the fascinating Our Own Master Race: Eugenics in Canada 1885-1945: “Between 1871 and 1931, he informed his audience, the general population had doubled, but that of the mentally ill had increased sixfold. Fifty percent of the latter were produced by feeble-minded parents who were far more prolific than the normal. Bruce warned that if some steps were not taken to stem the tide, in 70 years one-half of the population would be condemned to labour to support the other half, which would be institutionalized. Since the segregation of the subnormal had clearly not restricted their multiplication the only answer was to embark on a policy of sterilization.”
And embark they did. Prominent physicians in Canada embraced eugenic sterilization with eagerness. Supporters included CMAJ editor A.G. Nichols, assistant editor H.E. MacDermott, Dr. C.M. Hincks of the National Committee on Mental Hygiene, Dr. C.B. Farrar of the Toronto Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. W.L. Hutton, president of the Canadian Eugenics Society, and professor Madge Thurlow Macklin of the University of Western Ontario.
CMAJ editor A.G. Nichols argued: “To bring into the world another individual grievously handicapped for the struggle of life, one who may in addition prove a menace to his fellows, is as much to be depreciated as murder.”
McLaren documents further Nichols’ warped logic: “If such ‘crimes’ could not be punished they could at least be prevented. A ‘police state’ already existed as much as vaccinations and quarantines were enforced by the law to deal with infectious diseases. A similarly aggressive attack on the roots of mental illness was justified by the same concerns for the well-being of the community.”
No surprise
It should come as no surprise to anyone that Morgentaler’s warped view of abortion as a superhero crime-fighting tool is the same basis for the forced sterilization and eugenic trains of thought that were a blight on this nation’s history in the early part of this century. No less disturbing is the fact that, once again, it is members of Canada’s medical profession that seek to save us all with their bigoted viewpoints.
From the eugenicists at B.C. Women’s Hospital and Calgary Foothills Hospital, to the abortion clinics and abortion hospitals throughout Canada, the men and women in white coats still wear jackboots.
