Where was this abortion clinic in Toronto?

April 28, 2011 6:34 PM

Dr. Leslie Smoling operated an illegal abortion clinic in Toronto from 1962 to June 10, 1968, when police closed the clinic and charged him. He then fled to Australia to evade prosecution, coming back after two decades (?) to face charges. Where in the city was this clinic?

I've skimmed through microfilmed copies of the Daily Star and the Globe for that whole week and Proquested the hell out of it but am having no luck.

posted by avocet to Grab Bag (9 answers total)

The defendants, Henry Morgentaler, Leslie Smoling and Robert Scott, were charged with procuring illegal abortions at 85 Harbord Street, in Toronto..

Looks like a letter to the editor, so it's not definitive.
posted by ofthestrait at 7:01 PM on April 28, 2011

Just doing a quick search (for the hell of it), this pdf says he was arrested at his office. It doesn't sound like he was running an open clinic in the way Dr. Morgentaler did later, but was doing it secretly. Maybe the College of Physicians has a record of doctor's addresses.
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:03 PM on April 28, 2011

...of thestraits's article is about the arrest after he returned to Canada.
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:06 PM on April 28, 2011

Best answer: Having no luck in that you cant find anything or no list of the address?

It costs money to see the actual articles but an online search of the Toronto star has hits for June 10,1968 (pg. 54), then the following day (pg. 4) and again on Oct. 9 (pg. 65). You can go to this page.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:05 PM on April 28, 2011

I don't have a copy of Morgenteler's biography, but I remember it being at 85 Harbord, across the street from the medical clinic (wonderfully, two doors down form the femminist bookstore)
posted by PinkMoose at 12:57 AM on April 29, 2011

http://www.eyeweekly.com/details/article/83310
posted by PinkMoose at 12:57 AM on April 29, 2011

Response by poster: It's not the 85 Harbord clinic – I'm looking for the one that was open and closed during the '60s. (This is actually for a reproductive rights walking tour of Toronto, and 85 Harbord is the first stop on the walk.)

bonobothegreat, thanks for those page references – I'll go back and whiz through the microfilm/Pages of the Past again and post my results!
posted by avocet at 9:04 AM on April 29, 2011

Response by poster: The article is teeny and I totally missed it on microfilm! The office was on Coxwell Ave. – a bit out of the way on this tour, but that's all I needed to know. Thanks bonobothegreat!
posted by avocet at 9:20 AM on April 29, 2011

Response by poster: PinkMoose, TWB was actually in the same building as the Morgentaler Clinic when it was bombed – they were at street level, the clinic was upstairs – and they sustained much more damage than the clinic in the blast.
posted by avocet at 11:23 AM on April 29, 2011