Youth Blog

Angela Costigan, February 16, 1943  -  July 14, 2026

The Canadian pro-life movement is mourning the loss of one of its pro-life greats, Angela Costigan, a devout Catholic and fearless lawyer who used her expertise to defend life unapologetically in numerous cases, some of which went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Angela rose to become one of Canada’s most prominent pro-life lawyers. She “was devoted to her faith, her family and to the law. They were the priorities of her life,” said Gwen Landolt, Vice President of REAL Women of Canada, who worked with Angela on numerous court cases. “She was a woman with moral principles, and for this reason, she willingly gave of herself and her legal expertise in pursuit of protecting the unborn child.”

Landolt described the hurdles that the pro-life movement was up against in the ‘80s and ‘90s when Angela worked on many of her pro-life cases. Judges, biased by abortion ideology, favoured the pro-abortion side, so that no matter how legally sound a pro-life case was, it could still be lost. She noted that despite the tremendous obstacles, Angela always faced challenges with courage and determination.   

Landolt recounted how, in one case, Angela legally represented a woman who claimed that she had been treated negligently by arch-abortionist Dr. Henry Morgentaler in connection with her abortion. Landolt recalled how, “during the lunch recess, unknown to Angela, Morgentaler’s lawyer approached the woman complainant and offered her a substantial settlement if she would drop the case.”   

Landolt related how this was the usual practice of Morgentaler over the years during which numerous charges of medical negligence were laid against him. In this case, as in others, the woman agreed to the settlement, and the case was dropped. The news “shattered” Angela, who “believed with good reason that she was in the process of exposing the negligence and incompetence of Morgentaler’s practice of abortion,” Landolt said. However, Angela was “not defeated, as she continued to argue other cases on behalf of the prolife cause.”

Knowing how the odds were against her, but that the pro-life movement would one day be victorious, Angela, upon learning that she had lost a case, once compared herself with those who fought dehumanization and injustice in previous times.   

“I find myself in the distinguished company of four other lawyers,” Angela said, as quoted in the 1991 book Silhouettes against the Snow: Profiles of Canadian Defenders of Life. “In 1856 Mr. Blair and Mr. Curtis argued before the Supreme Court of the United States that a black man is a person—and lost. In 1928 Mr. Rowell and Mr. Lindsay argued before the Supreme Court of Canada that a woman is a person—and lost. In 1990 I had the privilege to argue before the Supreme Court of Canada that a child is a person—and lost.”   

“However, I do not feel that I am in the company of losers,” she added.   

Justice, Angela believed, will one day prevail for the preborn, but pro-life advocates must be willing to work to make this happen, and not look for instant results. “Winners don’t quit; quitters don’t win,” she once said.

Jakki Jeffs, Director of Alliance for Life Ontario, recalled four of Angela’s most notable cases:    

• Tremblay v. Daigle (1989): Angela represented the organization REAL Women of Canada as an intervener in this landmark Supreme Court of Canada case. The case dealt with whether a male partner could obtain an injunction to prevent a woman from having an abortion based on the premise that a fetus possesses the legal “right to life.”
• Dodd v. Murphy (1989): Angela acted as the lawyer for Greg Murphy, an anti-abortion activist and partner of Barbara Dodd. She successfully obtained a temporary injunction to prevent Dodd from terminating her pregnancy, marking one of the most highly publicized legal attempts to assert fetal rights.   
• R. v. Sullivan (1991): Angela represented the intervener REAL Women of Canada at the Supreme Court of Canada. The case involved criminal negligence charges related to the death of a child during a home birth, raising questions about when a fetus obtains legal personhood.
• Winnipeg Child and Family Services (Northwest Area) v. G. (D.F.) (1997): She represented the intervener Alliance for Life in this Supreme Court of Canada decision. The case addressed whether a court could order the detention of a pregnant woman to protect her fetus from substance abuse.    

Angela was a dedicated lawyer. She left her job teaching high school at 33 to attend law school and eventually launched her own litigation firm. She loved her work and the opportunity it gave her to speak out on the issues she most cared about. She also encouraged and mentored other pro-life leaders.

Phil Horgan, President of the Catholic Civil Rights League, spoke of Angela as a “role model to me,” and “one of a few lawyers who fought in the areas of pro-life advocacy in the period where our laws changed and eventually led to abortion on demand.” Horgan related how he worked closely with Angela for the later part of her career. “We would enjoy talking about court cases, strategic considerations, and current events on a daily basis,” he said.   

Horgan, who was distantly related to Angela, also remembers her as a woman with “a zest for life,” who loved to connect with others and facilitate social events. He especially remembers evenings with her family members “playing tunes on the piano for sing-a-long sessions in her home.” He added that she “always found time to listen to those around her, and she had a generous spirit for those in need.”

Jakki Jeffs saw Angela as a “pro-life hero.”

She was a “wonderfully gifted woman” and a “prominent pro-life advocate,” Jeffs said, adding that she was “always a ‘Lady’ in the best sense of the word.”   

“She spoke powerfully, but gently and fought like a warrior for the legal recognition of the ‘Right to Life’ of the tiniest human beings.”

Although she loved her work, Angela’s greatest joy was her family. “Of all her accomplishments, the one she was most proud of was her role as mother,” her obituary states. She taught her children the “values of faith, integrity, selflessness, respect, hard work and inspired them to use their talents to make a positive change in the world.” She loved to spend time with her three children and six grandchildren.   

Angela passed away peacefully on July 14, 2026, in an Ontario hospital while surrounded by her family, listening to “Ave Maria.” She was 83. She will be remembered as a warrior who defended the pre-born, always firm in her conviction of the value of life, a conviction that kept her going in a fight that often seemed unrewarding. Angela truly was, as Landolt said, “a shining light dedicated to God and to the dignity of human life.”