Dr. Henry Morgentaler, a Holocaust survivor who became one of Canada’s leading abortion advocates and spent time in prison for terminating a pregnancy, died Wednesday at the age of 90, officials said. activists.

Morgentaler established Canada’s first independent abortion clinic, in Montreal, in 1969, at a time when the procedure could only be performed in a hospital setting and was limited to cases where doctors felt that continuing an abortion pregnancy could harm the woman.

His campaign for women’s rights ended up before the Supreme Court of Canada, which sided with him in a January 1988 ruling declaring existing abortion laws unconstitutional.

The government attempted in 1990 to recriminalize abortion in cases where the woman’s health was not in danger. This effort ended in failure, leaving Canada, in practice, without any restrictions on abortion.

“Canadian women owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Dr. Morgentaler for defending their lives and health at great sacrifice and personal risk. He survived numerous threats on his life, a clinic bombing and aggressive protests,” said National Abortion Federation President Vicki. Saporta.

Morgentaler died at a time when some parliamentarians from the right-wing Conservative Party of Canada were openly expressing their opposition to abortion.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is careful not to stir up passions on a controversial social issue and says that as long as he is in power, the government will take no action to restrict abortion.