The ‘headstrong, uncompromising, eccentric’ entrepreneur who helped change Canada’s birth-control law

Toronto’s Harold Fine did a roaring trade in condoms starting in the late ’50s. Unfortunately, his business was illegal. He thought it was past time for reform

Written by Nate Hendley
Nov 23, 2022

In the aftermath of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the constitutional right to abortion, some American politicians have mused about tackling the right to birth control next.

Anyone aghast at such a thought should remember that it was illegal to sell contraceptives in Canada until 1969. Various factors led to the law’s reform — among them, the efforts of an oddball Toronto entrepreneur.

Continued: https://www.tvo.org/article/the-headstrong-uncompromising-eccentric-entrepreneur-who-helped-change-canadas-birth-control-law

Canada is still falling short on abortion rights

Canada is still falling short on abortion rights

By Sandeep Prasad and Jill Doctoroff, Contributors
Tue., May 12, 2020

Fifty years ago the Abortion Caravan came to Ottawa as part of the decades-long sexual rights movement that changed the country – and eventually led to the decriminalization of abortion.

Today, as standard-bearers for that same movement, we’re marking the important anniversary of this historic event – and reflecting on how far we have to go, at a time when disparities in health care access across the country are becoming clearer in the face of a global health crisis.

Continued: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/05/12/canada-is-still-falling-short-on-abortion-rights.html

Canada’s Abortion Caravan: Looking back at a historic reproductive rights movement

Canada's Abortion Caravan: Looking back at a historic reproductive rights movement
The House explores a landmark trek for abortion rights 50 years ago, and where the debate stands now

CBC Radio
Posted: May 09, 2020

Fifty years ago this weekend, hundreds of women from across Canada arrived in Ottawa to protest an abortion law passed by Pierre Elliott Trudeau's government in 1969.

They arrived in a convoy led by a Volkswagen van with a black coffin strapped to the roof. They argued that the existing law was too restrictive, forcing women to seek unregulated abortions by unqualified practioners that resulted in hundreds of deaths each year.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/chris-hall-the-pandemic-recession-is-placing-a-new-burden-on-women-1.5561435/canada-s-abortion-caravan-looking-back-at-a-historic-reproductive-rights-movement-1.5561456

Canada – 50 years after the Abortion Caravan protests, Karin Wells retraces their steps on virtual book tour

50 years after the Abortion Caravan protests, Karin Wells retraces their steps on virtual book tour

By: Ryan Porter
May 8th, 2020

The timing was perfect – until it wasn’t. Journalist Karin Wells planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the Abortion Caravan, a group of activists who drove across Canada from Vancouver to Ottawa protesting anti-abortion laws, with a book tour that mirrored the stops made by the caravan in 1970. Her history of the protest, The Abortion Caravan: When Women Shut Down the Government in the Battle for the Right to Choose (Second Story Press), was published April 21.

When COVID-19 made travel impossible, Wells and Second Story put together a plan to salvage the tour. Wells recorded six videos of herself in her home in Port Hope, Ontario, speaking about the Caravan. Each video was tailored to the challenges the women encountered in six specific cities. Those videos were then released in partnership with the independent bookstore which was originally slated to host Wells’s reading.

Continued: https://quillandquire.com/omni/50-years-after-the-abortion-caravan-protests-karin-wells-retraces-their-steps-on-virtual-book-tour/

08.05.2020