Hamilton abortion doctor shot in 1995 featured in new season of true-crime podcast

An unresolved case involving a Hamilton doctor who provided abortion services and was shot in 1995 is being featured in a podcast that investigates the suspected shooter and his other presumed victims.

Dr. Hugh Short from Ancaster, Ont., was one of three Canadian doctors targeted in the 1990s, presumably for providing abortions, along with two doctors from New York.

His story is featured in Someone Knows Something: The Abortion Wars, the newest and seventh season of the CBC true-crime podcast, which launched this past week. Host David Ridgen works with investigative journalist Amanda Robb to look into the 1998 murder of her uncle, Dr. Barnett Slepian, who was a gynecologist in Amherst, New York.

Over the course of seven episodes, being released weekly on Tuesdays on CBC Listen, the pair dig into her uncle's case and his convicted killer, James Kopp. 

Kopp was convicted for Dr. Slepian's murder and is serving a sentence of 25 years-to-life with no parole.

"In addition to the murder of Dr. Slepian, James Kopp is a suspect in four other attacks on doctors, because of the striking similarities between the shootings," Ridgen says in the first episode.

Throughout the investigation, they speak with family members of other shooting victims and local investigators where Kopp was identified as a "person of interest" by police, including in Hamilton. 

Kopp had initially been charged with the attempted murder of Short, who was shot through a window in his home.

Charges were dropped in 2009 and the Ontario Provincial Police said then the decision was made after consulting with the Hamilton Crown Attorney's office about evidence in the case, though no specific reason was given. 

At the time, Short chose not to comment to media about his case and asked journalists to respect his privacy.

He died at the age of 86 in 2019. His obituary said he delivered "thousands of babies over his illustrious career as practitioner and teacher."

The podcast delves into the similarities between the cases and the questions that remain.

"Why Ontario?," Robb asks in the first episode, "I would be very curious to know who it was, why they did it, and how they feel about it now."

Kopp is a person of interest in other shootings of Canadian doctors who provided abortions including Dr. Jack Fainman of Winnipeg in 1997 and Dr. Garson Romalis of Vancouver in 1994.

"All three Canadian doctors were badly injured, but survived," Ridgen says, and all three, their families and communities had their lives "pretty much ripped apart."

Ridgen also notes that none of the Canadian cases were brought to justice. 

"And like Amanda, I think there has to be more to the story about the shootings, the shooter or shooters, and who might have helped along the way," Ridgen said.

The new season comes at a time when abortion rights are being debated in the United States after the leak of a U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion on May 2, that revealed the court's conservative majority ready to overturn the 1973 decision establishing the right to terminate a pregnancy.

Demonstrators have been rallying across the U.S. to show their support for abortion rights, as the court's final ruling that could give states the ability to ban abortion is expected in June.

When interviewed in 2019 by CBC, pro-choice doctor and activist Dr. May Cohen, who once also lived and worked in Hamilton, shared her experiences during the time when Dr. Short and the other Canadian doctors were targets of attack by anti-abortion groups.

"It's very upsetting to think that there are people here who are so fixed in their ideas about what the role of women should be as reproductive producers," Cohen said.

While she had said she wasn't frighted personally in the 1990s because she wasn't providing abortion services, "it was very troubling."

Twenty years after the attacks being investigated in the the podcast, discourse surrounding access to abortion services remains heated, prompting Ridgen and Robb to ask: "What can we learn from the past?"