One often hears the argument - especially from pro-abortion activists - that the Supreme Court would not allow fetal rights because it has said that a fetus is not "person." But this is a misinterpretation of what the Court said. It is the existing law which offers no rights for preborn children, and the Courts have just been applying the existing law when they have made their rulings. Parliament can change the law if it wants to.

Many people believe that the Supreme Court struck down the law in 1988 because the Judges found a constitutional right to abortion. However, that is not why the Court struck down the law. This article explains why the law was stuck down and it gives a summary of what the Judges actually said in the Morgentaler decision.

View the entire text of the 1998 Morgentaler decision.