The New Brunswick Court of Appeal has found in favour of an earlier court decision to give Morgentaler legal standing and the right to represent women in the fight for public funding for clinic abortions. New Brunswick is the only province which does not fund private clinic abortions.
“The decision to grant public interest standing to Dr. Morgentaler was made in the exercise of a judicial discretion,” Court of Appeal Chief Justice Ernest Drapeau wrote in the decision.
“As such, intervention by this Court is not appropriate unless the decision is founded upon an error of law, an error in the application of the governing principles or a palpable and overriding error in the assessment of the evidence, or the decision is unreasonable, in the sense that nothing in the record can justify it.”
The appeals tribunal was unable to find “even a hint of reversible error” and dismissed the appeal.
Furthermore, it ordered the province to pay costs of $5,000 to Morgentaler.
As an old New Brunswick boy, well – not so old, well done NB – I had previously written to the Minister of Health saying I had no intention of returning to the province as long as there was no funding for abortions.
Hurrah – now I can visit my brother.