R v Morgentaler

This article is about the 1988 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada. For the 1976 decision, see Morgentaler v R. For the 1993 decision, see R v Morgentaler (1993).
R v Morgentaler
Supreme Court of Canada
Hearing: October 7–10, 1986
Judgment: January 28, 1988
Full case nameDr Henry Morgentaler, Dr Leslie Frank Smoling and Dr Robert Scott v Her Majesty The Queen
Citations[1988] 1 SCR 30, 63 OR (2d) 281, 37 CCC (3d) 449, 31 CRR 1, 62 CR (3d) 1, 26 OAC 1
Docket No.19556
Prior historyJudgment for the Crown in the Court of Appeal for Ontario
RulingAppeal allowed, acquittal restored
Holding
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.
Court membership
Chief Justice: Brian Dickson
Puisne Justices: Jean Beetz, Willard Estey, William McIntyre, Julien Chouinard, Antonio Lamer, Bertha Wilson, Gerald Le Dain, Gérard La Forest
Reasons given
Plurality
  • (1) Dickson, Lamer concurring (45–80)
  • (2) Beetz (80–132), Estey concurring
  • (3) Wilson (161–184)
DissentMcIntyre (132–161), La Forest concurring
Chouinard and Le Dain took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

R v Morgentaler, [1988] 1 SCR 30 is a landmark 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. Since this ruling, there have been no criminal laws regulating abortion in Canada.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.