MORGENTALER LAWSUIT FINALLY HITS THE PRESS

HALIFAX, NS, May 5 (LSN) – Four months after the event, the story of the malpractice suit against the Halifax Morgentaler abortuary finally made the Nova Scotia press.  Although the judge rendered his decision on December 23, 1997, the local media either missed or conveniently ignored the $724,000 award against the abortuary. Reality Magazine, a publication of Real Women broke the story in their April issue, which was also missed by the secular media.  Yesterday, pro-life activist, Cynthia Clarke of Campaign Life Coalition Nova Scotia, issued a news release on the lawsuit. This resulted in the national media attention the story received today. The media claimed they had missed it since the case was filed under “MacPhail vs. DesRosiers” and did not have the word Morgentaler in the summary.  In December, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Douglas MacLellan found that abortionist Jacques Desrosiers and his nurse Jean Palmer were guilty of negligence in allowing their patient Wanda MacPhail to drive home only 30-45 minutes after suffering an abortion.  Although the patient was not found to be suffering physically, her emotional state was disastrous.  CTV news reported that after the woman had an abortion she became distraught and began to refer to the “aborted tissue” as “my baby” and asked the clinic staff if they would give her the baby so that she could take it home and bury it— they refused outright.  According to the court, the emotional turmoil from the abortion caused the patient to faint and then swerve into oncoming traffic.  The Daily News noted that MacPhails injuries included “a head laceration,  crushed nose, fractured chest bone, collapsed lung, broken ribs, fractured leg, and a torn knee cap that had to be removed.”  The truck driver whom MacPhail hit also sustained serious injuries.  MacPhail was awarded $724,547 in the settlement which is being appealed by the abortion mill as excessive.