Activist groups believe bill could lend itself to a legal argument for fetal rights
Laura Osman · The Canadian Press
Posted: May 09, 2023
A private member's bill from a Conservative backbench MP is stirring up debate over abortion in Canada, even though the proposed legislation does not mention it once.
Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall's bill would encourage judges to consider physical or emotional harm to a pregnant victim as an aggravating factor during sentencing.
April 25, 2023
Lesley Ann Foster
A viral clip of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from his recent visit to the University of Manitoba circulated rapidly on social media. National and international news outlets celebrated his response to a young, self-acclaimed People’s Party of Canada voter and anti-abortionist.
Trudeau’s defence of a woman’s right to choose involved him appealing to the anti-abortionist’s humanity by using an extreme example of rape.
We need transparency instead of deception
By Peak Web
March 23, 2023
Content warning: mentions of pro-life rhetoric.
Masquerading as support services for pregnant people, clinics known as crisis pregnancy centres (CPC) are dangerous and deceive those that require support services to deal with unwanted pregnancies. These centres operate under the guise of neutrality. In reality, they often have religious affiliations and anti-abortion motives. This should be illegal. However, if they continue to operate, they should at least be monitored for bias and medical malpractice. Using vague and misleading rhetoric to advance an anti-abortion agenda imposes on people’s ability to make informed decisions about their reproductive health. While knowing about abortion alternatives is valuable, they must be discussed alongside abortion as a viable option. Anything less is deceptive.
A new report from the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) showcases how they impose anti-choice ideals onto individuals that unknowingly seek out help from them.
Continued: https://the-peak.ca/2023/03/fake-crisis-pregnancy-centres-infringe-on-reproductive-freedom/
March 23, 2023
Joyce Arthur, Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
If you support the right to abortion like most Canadians, you may be surprised to learn that the majority of groups that oppose abortion enjoy charitable tax status. How did they earn this privilege and why do they still have it?
The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) tracks anti-choice groups and currently counts 316 of them. About half are advocacy groups and half are crisis pregnancy centres – “CPCs”. About 71% (222) of all anti-choice groups enjoy charitable tax status, including an astounding 93.5% of CPCs. These organizations claim to be unbiased counselling centres for pregnant people.
Continued: https://www.healthinsight.ca/advocacy/why-anti-abortion-groups-should-not-be-charities/
March 8, 2023 • For immediate release
Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada / BC Humanist Assoc.
NATIONAL – A new study of unlicensed pregnancy counselling centres across Canada finds that they often conceal an anti-abortion agenda and provide medical misinformation to pregnant clients.
Co-developed by the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) and the BC Humanist Association (BCHA), the study reviewed websites of the nearly 150 so-called crisis pregnancy centres (CPCs) across Canada to identify the presence of misleading information, and compared the results to a similar 2016 study conducted by ARCC to better understand changes over time.
“We found that the websites of most CPCs in Canada share biased, misleading or outright false information,” said Joyce Arthur, Executive Director of ARCC. “Even though these agencies present themselves as unbiased counselling centres, most are anti-abortion and religiously affiliated. A key goal for them is to dissuade clients from having an abortion. Our report highlights the urgent need for increased regulation and oversight of CPCs to ensure that pregnant people are not subject to harmful misinformation or coercion.”
Some clinics in Canada are changing their names to be more inclusive
Natalie Stechyson · CBC News
Posted: Feb 18, 2023
Women's Clinic. Choice in Health Clinic. Woman's Health Options.
What do these clinics have in common? They all offer abortion services, although it may not be obvious from the names, and advocates say the names themselves may exclude some of those who need help.
But now, there's a movement within abortion care to be more mindful of the language they use — whether that's to be more inclusive, or drop the euphemisms and be more forthright.
Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/abortion-clinics-language-1.6747788
Before patting ourselves on the back for having the right to choose, we should examine pregnancy-termination issues within our borders.
BY : CAITLIN STALL-PAQUET
DEC 8TH, 2022
Last June, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which gave Americans the fundamental right to choose to have an abortion, anxiety, fear and anger increased proportionally throughout the country. The sentiment was understandably echoed on this side of the border too. A loud cry rang out, commensurate to the gut punch delivered by this gigantic step backwards for reproductive rights, which was spurred by an anti-abortion movement that deigns to call itself “pro-life.” However, the “at-least-we’re-not-the-States” attitude often blinds Canadians to our own widespread problems regarding abortion. “You can hold two [opinions] at once—you can both have empathy, support and outrage for [our] colleagues in the U.S. and also say ‘We actually have [access] issues,’” says Dr. Geneviève Bois, a family doctor who splits her time working between Montreal and Whapmagoostui in northern Quebec.
Continued: https://www.ellecanada.com/culture/society/the-state-of-abortion-access-in-canada
By Jasmine Pazzano, Global News
Published December 7, 2022
Ontario’s abortion care system has been in a state of disrepair for years, and last December, Queen’s Park decided to do something about it, committing to overhaul the way it funds its clinics.
The news came as a relief to people working at some of the province’s imperiled abortion centres. It also came as a surprise. Until a reporter asked them about it, none of the six clinics Global News spoke with knew about the plans.
Continued: https://globalnews.ca/news/9280521/ontario-abortion-overhaul-health-care-clinics/
With Roe v. Wade overturned in the US, menstruation apps have become a new concern in the fight for abortion rights. Do they pose the same risk in Canada?
BY ELISABETH DE MARIAFFI
Dec. 5, 2022
ON MAY 2, a draft opinion of the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade—thus permitting states to outlaw abortion—was leaked. Social media immediately filled with posts about the impact of this new reality. These concerns included the safety of our digital data.
Users who had downloaded period-tracking apps on their phones were urged to delete them. The most popular of these apps—Flo, based in the UK, and Clue, created in Berlin—are free to download and track not only your next period but also your most fertile days of the month. In fact, depending on the information entered, the apps can predict the intensity of your menstrual flow, even your specific PMS symptoms. The fear is that such apps can also reveal when you’ve missed a period—effectively pointing to a possible pregnancy. In a post-Roe world, app users were worried their personal cycle information could be used to prosecute them. This fear is based in fact. Even before Roe was overturned, browser history was vulnerable to investigation. When, in 2017, a Mississippi woman experienced an almost-full-term stillbirth at home, prosecutors used the search history on her phone as part of their pregnancy termination case against her—and a grand jury indicted her for second-degree murder. (The case was dropped three years later.)
Continued: https://thewalrus.ca/how-period-tracking-apps-can-be-weaponized-in-the-fight-against-abortion/
Group plans to put up more billboards throughout province
Yasmine Ghania · CBC News
Posted: Nov 01, 2022
If you're driving along Saskatchewan highways, there's a good chance you'll see some anti-abortion billboards.
But now, if you're in Aylesbury, Sask., about 100 kilometres northwest of Regina, you'll also see an "abortion is healthcare" sign.
"We are trying to decrease the stigma and also increase availability and accessibility to those people who need access to abortions," said Rachel Regio, vice-president of Abortion is Healthcare Signs Inc., which paid for the billboard.
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