Morgentaler: A Difficult Hero

Cynthia R. Comacchio is an associate professor of history at Wilfrid
Laurier University and the author of Nations Are Built of Babies: Saving
Ontario’s Mothers and Children.

The title of this fascinating portrayal of the renowned abortionist
Henry Morgentaler is both a summary and a judgment of the subject’s
character and historic role. We expect our heroes to be far removed from
the human quirks, eccentricities, and neuroses that afflict mere
mortals. Dunphy recognizes this central feature of public hero-making.
She also recognizes Morgentaler’s awareness of the importance of such
a public image, which made him a less-than-cooperative subject for his
biographer. Among the personal “difficulties” that emerge in this
book are Morgentaler’s all-too-evident arrogance, his love of public
attention (and astute manipulation of that attention), and his tendency
toward impatience and dismissiveness—all of which contradict his
carefully projected image as tender healer and crusader for the
helpless. But Morgentaler is not an exposition of the hero’s dark
side. Dunphy’s overall telling of the Morgentaler story is balanced,
despite her occasional antagonism toward her subject. In the final
analysis, the hero’s qualities remain impressive and worthy of public
respect, notwithstanding his very real flaws.

Dunphy also considers the obvious difficulty of Morgentaler’s stance
on abortion, within both the medical profession and the broader society.
We get a glimpse of the private toll it has taken, although much of this
is necessarily based on speculation. In the end, there is no disputing
Morgentaler’s centrality in the battle over women’s reproductive
freedom that has been waged over the past 30 years. Dunphy has admirably
captured a sense of the conflicts and complexities that have
characterized both her subject and his times.