Film 1st Degree Morgentaler produced

It’s been more than 30 years, but social worker Vicky Green still vividly remembers her abortion experience with Dr. Henry Morgentaler. She tells part of her story in the short film 1st Degree Morgentaler by John S.C. Hetherington.

The powerful short film juxtaposes shots of Morgentaler explaining his rationale for supporting the “right to choose” abortion against the testimonial of Green.

“We came to a stop light and I wanted to get out and run,” says Green, recalling her former boyfriend driving her to Morgentaler’s first abortuary in the east end of Montreal. But soon, she found herself face to face with the abortionist himself. “I was surprised it was Dr. Morgentaler doing the abortion.”

After a brief counselling session, she told him, “I don’t want to do this to my baby.” According to Green, Morgentaler replied, “It’s not a baby.” She says she cried the whole way through the abortion procedure.

The 10-minute film was released as part of the online film contest Project Breakout. Interestingly, the date of the announcement of the winners of Project Breakout happened to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Jan. 28, 1988 Supreme Court ruling, known as the “Morgentaler decision,’ which decriminalized abortion in Canada. Since that ruling, the fate of Canada’s abortion law has been in the hands of Parliament and, since it has failed to act, there has been no legal restriction on abortion for 20 years.

After making the contest finals and editing his material together, Hetherington said, “When I learned the Project Breakout winners were to be announced on Jan. 28, the 20th anniversary of the Morgentaler decision. I knew entering this film was meant to be.”

1st Degree Morgentaler is one of 15 films in the finals of the Project Breakout contest. It was viewed and voted online from Jan. 14-27.

A longer version of this article originally appeared Jan. 15 on LifeSiteNews.com and is reprinted with permission.