Democracy on trial: The morgentaler affaire

The failings of Canada’s justice system as seen through the dramatization of a particular case. The case is that of an accused abortionist. DEMCRACY ON TRIAL: THE MORGENTALER AFFAIRE condenses Dr. Morgentaler’s complex six-year legal battle with Quebec and federal courts into a concise one-hour review of the case. The film does not debate the abortion issue nor take a stand on the validity of the law; it neither concones nor condemns Dr.Morgentaler’s method of contesting the law. Instead, it provides the viewer with a clear understating of the legal ramifications of the Morgentaler Affair as well as a brief personal history of this physician who risked his career and his freedom for a question of principle.The film contains newsreel footage and interviews, but consists mainly of dramatized scenes which recreate in a very realistic manner the major events in the case. Dr. Morgentaler and his lawyer, Claude-Armand Sheppard, play themselves in these re-enactments.