N.B. health workers launch abortion care network on Morgentaler anniversary

Lyndsay Armstrong The Canadian Press
January 26, 2023 

Health-care providers in New Brunswick are launching a new abortion services network ahead of Saturday’s 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Morgentaler decision.

The New Brunswick Abortion Care Network’s 20 founding members _ who are in nursing, pharmacy, family medicine and obstetrics _ aim to increase access to and awareness of provincial abortion care, said Martha Paynter, a nursing professor and spokesperson for the new group.

Continued: https://q107.com/news/9438959/n-b-health-workers-launch-abortion-care-network-on-morgentaler-anniversary/


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/


Abortion rights are under attack in the United States, should we in Canada be worried?

While legal abortion is not threatened in Canada, anti-abortion groups never stopped organizing. If there is an attempt to seriously challenge abortion rights in Canada, will we be ready to fight back.

by Judy Rebick
January 28, 2022

January 28 marks the 34th anniversary of legal abortion in Canada. On that date, the Supreme Court struck down the 1969 abortion law and declared abortion a legal medical procedure like any other. Known as the Morgentaler decision, after the heroic doctor Henry Morgentaler who opened illegal abortion clinics in Quebec in the 1970s and Ontario in the early 1980s, successfully challenging the law.

On January 22, 1973, the famed
Roe v. Wade case in the Supreme Court of the United States effectively
legalized abortion. After refusing to strike down a restrictive Texas law
allowing citizens to sue anyone seeking, counselling or providing an abortion,
the majority conservative U.S. court will soon decide whether a Mississippi law
banning abortion after 15 weeks, will be upheld. Roe v. Wade will, in effect,
be struck down with devastating impacts on women across the country; at least
12 states, including Texas and Mississippi, will trigger laws that
automatically ban abortion and other Republican-led states will no doubt
follow.

Continued: https://rabble.ca/columnists/abortion-rights-are-under-attack-in-the-united-states-should-we-in-canada-be-worried/


Canada – Erin O’Toole’s abortion stance serves neither physicians nor women

August 30, 2021
the Conversation

Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole recently found himself at the centre of the abortion debate as he hit the campaign trail in advance of the federal election on Sept. 20.

The controversy arose when he stated he was pro-choice while simultaneously claiming that he supported the rights of physicians to deny abortions on the basis of conscience.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/erin-otooles-abortion-stance-serves-neither-physicians-nor-women-166728


4 Women On What It Was Like Before Abortion Was Decriminalized In Canada

4 Women On What It Was Like Before Abortion Was Decriminalized In Canada
Yes, access has radically improved since 1988—but we can’t be complacent.

by Rachel Chen
Updated Jan 7, 2020

Abortion was decriminalized in Canada in 1988, after pro-choice advocate Dr. Henry Morgentaler successfully challenged the constitutionality of Canada’s abortion law. Three decades later, access to both medical and surgical abortion isn’t perfect—especially for women in rural areas—but it’s radically better than what it once was. Still, as we see threats to Roe v. Wade (the landmark case that gave Americans a right to abortion) growing next door in the United States, it is important to remember how we got where we are.

Here, four women share what it was like to be faced with an unwanted pregnancy prior to 1988—and why we can never go back to such restrictive access.

Continued: https://www.chatelaine.com/health/before-abortion-decriminalization-canada/


Thirty years after Morgentaler ruling on abortion rights, Canada ‘still dealing with the same issues’

Thirty years after Morgentaler ruling on abortion rights, Canada ‘still dealing with the same issues’
Only one in six hospitals in Canada performs abortions and some provinces have no standalone abortion clinics at all. New Brunswick, meanwhile, continues to refuse to fund abortions at the province’s only clinic.

By Brett Bundale, The Canadian Press
Wed., Dec. 20, 2017

It’s 1979. A 20-year-old student misses her period.

“I was in my third year of university. I used oral contraceptives but I got pregnant,” the woman, now in her late 50s, said in a recent interview from Montreal. “I hadn’t finished my degree. I wasn’t ready for a family.”

She avoided the French-language Catholic hospital where she lived in Moncton, N.B., and instead booked an appointment with a gynecologist at the city’s English-language hospital.

Continued at source: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/12/20/thirty-years-after-morgentaler-ruling-on-abortion-rights-canada-still-dealing-with-the-same-issues.html


Conference: Abortion in the British Isles, France and North America since 1800

Abortion in the British Isles, France and North America since 1800
Claire CHARLOT's picture

Announcement published by Claire CHARLOT on Monday, November 6, 2017
Type: Call for Papers
Date: November 6, 2018 to November 8, 2018
Location: France
Subject Fields: Social History / Studies, American History / Studies, Canadian History / Studies, British History / Studies, French History / Studies

International Conference organised by the University of Paris-Sorbonne (France), 6-8 November 2018.

Conveners: Claire Charlot, Adrien Lherm (Paris-Sorbonne, HDEA EA 4086), and Fabienne Portier-Le Cocq (University François Rabelais, Tours, ICD EA 6297).

Around the world, 2018 will mark the anniversary of a series of events relating to the decriminalisation of abortion: the enforcement of the UK Abortion Act 1967 (50 years), the US Supreme Court ruling of Roe vs. Wade (45 years), and the Canada Supreme Court ruling of R. v. Morgentaler (25 years). The Republic of Ireland is also planning a referendum on the possible repeal of Article 8 of its Constitution which, if approved, would lead to the decriminalisation of abortion there too. In addition, shortly after the British General Election of 2017, Prime Minister, Theresa May, announced that women from Northern Ireland (currently excluded from the British Abortion Act) would be allowed to travel to mainland Britain to secure an abortion on the National Health Service.

Continued at source: https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/748433/abortion-british-isles-france-and-north-america-1800


Canada: Liberals take aim at old abortion law

Liberals take aim at old abortion law
Daniel Leblanc
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Mar. 08, 2017

The federal government has tabled legislation to remove the anti-abortion provision in the Criminal Code, confirming the Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in the Henry Morgentaler case while bringing back the highly contentious issue in Parliament.

Liberal ministers deliberately introduced the proposed legislative change on International Women’s Day, cementing their party’s status as an unequivocally pro-choice movement. The Conservatives have yet to decide how to vote on Bill C-39, but one anti-abortion leadership candidate, Brad Trost, quickly signalled he opposes the symbolic proposal.

Continued at source: Globe & Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/justice-minister-aims-to-end-zombie-laws-clean-up-criminal-code/article34244927/