October 28, 1984
The Ontario Tory leadership race is under way. Candidate Dennis Timbrell declares that he accepts the federal law on abortion (Section 251 of the Criminal Code). However, he opposes abortion on demand and any further liberalization of the abortion law.
December 4, 1984
Then Ontario Attorney General, Roy McMurtry, appeals the jury acquittal of Morgentaler of November 4, 1984, but only after tremendous pressure from pro-lifers.
December 10, 1984
Morgentaler reopens his Toronto abortion “clinic.” Police start round-the-clock protection. Pro-life pickets begin, while waiting for the government to set bail conditions that would close down the abortuary. (Today, they are still picketing…and waiting for the Liberal NDP government to act.)
January 1985
Ontario Premier Frank Miller announces that the supports the existing law. “I don’t like, nor believe in abortion,” he says. But adds, “I have to say there has to be a right of choice.”
Leadership candidate Larry Grossman refuses to give his personal position. Instead he states that politicians “must not impose their own personal morality on the public…” This statement, of course, is the standard reply of politicians who accept abortion.
February 21, 1985
3,000 pro-life supporters demonstrate in front of Toronto’s Harbord Street abortuary, demanding that it be closed. 100 police are on hand.
February 22, 1985
Reconfirmed as Premier, Mr. Miller forms a new cabinet and declares he is opposed to abortion clinics. However, he thinks hospitals should speed up their process for committing abortions.
Solicitor General, John Williams, a known pro-life supporter, while in charge of the police, fails to convince Attorney General Robert Welch to take action against the Morgentaler clinic. Welch is known to be holding the Attorney General post only for a short time, until his retirement from office.
March 4, 1985
A call for an election in Ontario provides a new excuse for the provincial government not to act on the Morgentaler abortuary.
April 13, 1985
Premier Miller announces that “abortion should be available to women all across the province and hospitals should be encouraged to meet that goal.” Added the Premier, “We’re lucky in Ontario, in that there are a fair number of hospitals to do them. That’s the key thing – you encourage them to do them.”
May 2, 1985
The Ontario conservatives lose the election, ending a 42-year long Tory rule.
