Attacks On Doctors Who Perform Abortions
Three Canadian doctors who perform abortions have been shot. Many of the shootings occurred on or near November 11, which is observed as Remembrance Day in Canada, the day for remembering the contributions of service men and women in both the world wars and on peacekeeping operations.
- In 1983, Henry Morgentaler was attacked by a man wielding garden shears; the attack was blocked by feminist activist Judy Rebick, who was standing nearby.
- In 1992, Morgentaler's Toronto clinic was firebombed and sustained severe damage. The event occurred at night, so no one was injured, although a nearby bookstore was damaged. Appointments were switched to another clinic in Toronto and no abortions were prevented.
- On November 8, 1994, Vancouver doctor Garson Romalis shot in the leg.
- On November 10, 1995, Dr. Hugh Short of Ancaster, Ontario shot in the elbow.
- On November 11, 1997 Dr. Jack Fainman of Winnipeg shot in the shoulder.
- On July 11, 2000, Dr. Romalis was stabbed by an unidentified assailant in the lobby of his clinic.
Read more about this topic: Abortion In Canada
Famous quotes containing the words attacks on, attacks, doctors, perform and/or abortions:
“We are seeing an increasing level of attacks on the “selfishness” of women. There are allegations that all kinds of social ills, from runaway children to the neglected elderly, are due to the fact that women have left their “rightful” place in the home. Such arguments are simplistic and wrongheaded but women are especially vulnerable to the accusation that if society has problems, it’s because women aren’t nurturing enough.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)
“Under peaceful conditions, the warlike man attacks himself.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“One of the fundamental reasons why so many doctors become cynical and disillusioned is precisely because, when the abstract idealism has worn thin, they are uncertain about the value of the actual lives of the patients they are treating. This is not because they are callous or personally inhuman: it is because they live in and accept a society which is incapable of knowing what a human life is worth.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“The man, or the boy, in his development is psychologically deterred from incorporating serving characteristics by an easily observable fact: there are already people around who are clearly meant to serve and they are girls and women. To perform the activities these people are doing is to risk being, and being thought of, and thinking of oneself, as a woman. This has been made a terrifying prospect and has been made to constitute a major threat to masculine identity.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)
“Morality becomes hypocrisy if it means accepting mothers’ suffering or dying in connection with unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortions and unwanted children.”
—Gro Harlem Brundtland (b. 1939)