Appeal Court to Hear Morgentaler's Latest Fight Against N
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Appeal Court to hear Morgentaler's latest fight against N.B. government
Hearing will be streamed live on internet
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 | 6:36 AM
CBC News
Dr. Henry Morgentaler will attend the Court of Appeal on Tuesday morning, another step in his pursuit to make the New Brunswick government pay for the costs of abortions at his Fredericton clinic.
The provincial government is trying to block the abortion activist from suing the province, in a dispute that goes back years and involves several different governments.
"I accuse the government of New Brunswick of being sexist, male chauvinist, of victimizing and oppressing women," Morgentaler said in 2002 when he announced his lawsuit.
Morgentaler wants medicare to pay for abortions in his clinic, while the province says it only has to pay for abortions performed in hospitals.
The province said in court filings that it would argue Morgentaler couldn't sue on this issue because it affects women, not him.
So Morgentaler filed a pre-emptive motion asking the court to rule he did have standing to sue. He won at the trial level last summer and the province appealed.
Three Court of Appeal justices will hear the motion on Tuesday and for the first time in the court's history the proceedings will be streamed live to the internet on the CBC's New Brunswick website.
Michael Bray, the registrar of the court, said the decision to allow the CBC to stream the court testimony live on the internet allows people to watch the courts at their convenience.
"It's the idea of access to justice. Courts under most situations are always open to the public. However, given the scheduling and the timetables, these hearings very often happen at a time when the public are not able to attend," Bray said.
"This gives them a means that the public who are interested in a particular proceeding can view it and hear it at their convenience."
The hearing gets underway at 10 a.m. The Court of Appeal is not expected to rule on the case on Tuesday.