TORONTO, ON, August 2, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – With the University of Western Ontario having publicly honored Henry Morgentaler earlier this summer, despite fierce public opposition and the loss of a number of large donors, it seems that others are finding the time ripe to publicly laud Canada’s most famed and controversial abortionist.

It has been announced that Morgentaler is slated to receive his second award for the year, the prestigious 2005 Award for Public Policy Leadership. It will be conferred on him at the 74th annual Couchiching conference in Orillia, Ontario, taking place this upcoming weekend.

“Through the direct and measurable impact that Dr. Morgentaler has had on public policy, he exemplifies the high level of leadership required of award recipients,” said a press release from the Couchiching Institute.

According to the Couchiching website one of the particular requirements for the award is that the recipient must have “Faced demonstrable public opposition/controversy to the cause.” Morgentaler certainly fits that portion of the bill, having made a name for himself in Canada in the late sixties and seventies by flaunting serious criminal law and publicly offering lucrative and illegal abortions from his private clinics. As recently as this summer a petition with over 12,000 signatures of those opposed to the university’s honoring of the abortionist was presented to the University of Western Ontario.

The Public Policy Leadership award is financially backed by Sun Life Financial while the Couchiching Institute On Public Affairs is itself sponsored by numerous government offices, businesses and corporations.

National Campaign Life Coalition president, Jim Hughes, expressed his concern that the Couchiching conference would confer the prestigious award on a man who had made his reputation through criminal activity. “The fact that the business community is behind this sends a great message to our young people about the consequences of breaking the law,” he quipped bitterly.

Hughes suggested that anybody who is considering life insurance should avoid Sun Life Financial and let the corporation know why. As well, those who already have a policy or some business relationship with the company are being encouraged to sever that relationship where feasible.

Notable in the lengthy list of Couchiching Institute sponsors are Foreign Affairs Canada, the Defense Department and Chaviva Hosek, who was a senior policy advisor to former Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

To express your concerns contact the Couchiching Institute: 250 Consumers Road, Suite 301, Willowdale, Ontario, M2J 4V6, 416-494-1440, Fax: 416-495-8723, couch@couch.ca

Couchiching Institute website http://www.couch.ca/sponsors/index.html

Sun Life WebSite http://www.sunlife.com/slcorp/genericpage/0,3324,bGFuZy1lbmdsaXNoX3NpdGUtc2xjb3JwX2Vudi1saXZlX3B6bi1nZW5lcmljX3NlYy0xOF9zdGF0LV9lZC1fbmF2LTMzMjc1,00.html

JJ