Canada – Why Anti-Abortion Groups Should Not Be Charities

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/

Canada – Study Finds “Crisis Pregnancy Centres” mislead and manipulate

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.”

Continued: https://www.arcc-cdac.ca/study-cpcs-mar8-2023

08.03.2023

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Canada – Why don’t we call more abortion clinics ‘abortion clinics’? Language matters, advocates say

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

Ontario promised to overhaul abortion care – but clinics say they’ve been left out

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/

USA – The white, conservative Southern women who asked me to keep their abortions secret

My middle-class evangelical peers quietly took advantage of abortion rights, while publicly advocating against them

By LEAH HAMPTON
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 24, 2022

The day one of my closest childhood friends got married, she asked me to keep two secrets: The first was her high school abortion. "It was so long ago," she said in a terrified whisper, "I can't tell him; it doesn't even matter anymore." She was peeking down the hall, where everything was draped in rented white satin—a traditional, Southern wedding, officiated by an odious Calvinist preacher. She frowned at her family, who were busy decorating. "Nobody except you understood."

She was desperate not to be overheard, so I squeezed her hand to tell her wordlessly, We buried that memory together a long time ago. (Even now as I write this, I can't bring myself to type her name.) Her body relaxed, and she took a breath. As I opened her makeup kit, she added abruptly, "And don't you dare say a word about last summer, either."

Continued: https://www.salon.com/2022/09/24/the-white-conservative-southern-women-asked-me-to-keep-their-abortions-secret/

Joyce Arthur continues the fight for abortion rights and access in Canada

by ORLY ZEBAK, Niv Magazine
Sept 10, 2022

Before 1969 all abortions in Canada were considered a criminal offence. If a doctor or anyone else was caught helping a woman terminate her pregnancy they could face life in prison; the woman, if found guilty, could face up to two years in jail. Before January 28, 1988 you needed approval from a Therapeutic Abortion Committee (TAC) to induce an abortion. Comprised of three medical practitioners in an accredited hospital, the TAC determined that a woman may only receive an abortion at said hospital if the pregnancy posed a threat to the woman’s life or health. Joyce Arthur, founder of Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC), found herself before such a committee at Vancouver General Hospital.

Continued: https://nivmag.com/joyce-arthur-continues-the-fight-for-abortion-rights-and-access-in-canada/

10.09.2022

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Crisis pregnancy centres outnumber abortion care clinics on Vancouver Island

A Nanaimo abortion provider says the centres confuse and misinform patients.

Tegwyn Hughes
August 11, 2022

On June 24, 2022, The House of Grace pregnancy centre opened its doors in central Duncan. Within days, a group of concerned citizens mobilized to publicly raise concerns about the new organization and other crisis pregnancy centres like it.

Unlike a women’s clinic or other medical clinic providing reproductive health care, crisis pregnancy centres are nonmedical organizations that offer counselling and support to pregnant people. They typically operate from a religiously informed view that life begins at conception and that preventing abortions is morally good.

Continued: https://thediscourse.ca/vancouver-island/crisis-pregnancy-centres-vancouver-island

How Canadian Abortion Providers Are Preparing For A Potential Uptick of Americans Seeking Care

It’s not clear how many Americans will turn to Canada for abortion care, but clinics are readying as best as they can.

Sarah Ratchford
Updated August 10, 2022

Joyce Arthur’s phone has been ringing nonstop for the past two weeks, and her inbox is filling up relentlessly. She usually fields a lot of requests, but this, she says, is on a whole new level.

Arthur is the executive director of Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, one of three national organizations fighting for improved access to abortion care in Canada. The calls have been coming since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month, ending the constitutional right to an abortion in the U.S. The fear Americans felt travelled north of the border, and Arthur has been working to keep Canadians up to speed about what it means in this country. The day we speak, she has already taken calls from five reporters—and it’s only late morning.

Continued: https://www.chatelaine.com/living/features-living/canada-abortion-americans/

Michigan County Prosecutors Can Enforce Abortion Ban Under New Court Ruling

TBEN News, By The Bharat Express News
August 2, 2022

Abortion could become illegal in parts of Michigan after a panel of the state appeals court said in a decision released Monday that a judge’s order blocking enforcement of a pre-Roe v. Wade ban does not apply. applies to provincial prosecutors.

The 91-year-old abortion ban, which was blocked in May from taking effect immediately, makes it a crime for doctors to perform abortions unless the mother’s life is in danger.

Continued: https://www.thebharatexpressnews.com/michigan-county-prosecutors-can-enforce-abortion-ban-under-new-court-ruling-tben-news/

Canadian government urged to fast-track promise to tackle anti-abortionists

Trudeau’s party is accused of going silent on vow to strip charity status from groups that ‘deceive’ pregnant people

Annie Burns-Pieper, OpenDemocracy
2 August 2022

The Canadian government has been urged to finally fulfill its promise of ending charitable status for anti-abortion organisations accused of deceiving pregnant people by masquerading as ‘health centres’.

During its 2021 election campaign, the Liberal Party vowed to target groups “that provide dishonest counselling to women about their rights and about the options available to them at all stages of the pregnancy”.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/canada-abortion-charity-status-crisis-pregnancy-centre-roe-v-wade-election/