Health
| Author | M.H. Ogilvie |
| Pages | 381-386 |
Chapter
T
w
e I v e.
Health
A.
INTRODUCTION
The
interaction
of law and
religion
in
relation
to
health
has
largely been
concerned with
the
beginning
and end of
life
in
this world
and has
tra-
ditionally been regulated
by the
criminal law, which historically sought
to
uphold Christian
beliefs
about
the
sanctity
of
life
as a
divine
gift
to be
given
and
taken again
by
God.
The
Criminal
Code
continues
to
make pro-
vision
for
matters relating
to
suicide,
the
preservation
of
life,
and the
right
to
die.
While
the
original reason
for the
criminalization
of
these
matters
was
theological,
in
recent years their legal consideration
has
been
largely
secularized
and
constitutionalized
after
the
introduction
of the
Canadian
Charter
of
Rights
and
Freedoms.
Thus,
the
abortion provisions
of
the
Code have been
found
to be an
infringement
of
section
7 of the
Charter1
and
legal issues
at the end of
life
have been said
to be
protected
because
they
reflect
"fundamental
values"
in
Canadian
society2
without
a
court stating either what those values
are or
their ultimate source.
The
courts
no
longer
frame
these
issues
as
issues
in
moral theology, rather
as
issues
of
secular law,
so no
further
discussion
is
possible
in a
legal text.
1 See
generally
for a
discussion
of
these, chapter
5,
sections L-O.
2
Rodriguez
v.
A.G. B.C.,
519.
381
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