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


There’s a backlash against sex education in ‘Feminist Canada’

There’s a backlash against sex education in ‘Feminist Canada’
Canada appears progressive on the world stage. But under pressure from the Christian right, Ontario’s premier scrapped modern sex education.

Nandini Archer
13 February 2019

The recent decision in the Canadian province of Ontario, to scrap its modern sex education curriculum, is “a significant retrogressive step” and “part of the backlash” against sexual and reproductive rights, said Sandeep Prasad, executive director of the NGO Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights.

Last year, the 2015 sex education curriculum for pre-teens, which addressed issues from consent to LGBT rights, was replaced with that from 1998. The provincial government also introduced a hotline – dubbed the “snitch line” by critics – for parents to report on teachers who continue to teach these topics.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/nandini-archer/backlash-against-sex-education-feminist-canada


Displaced Rohingya women need access to abortion, not just food and shelter

Displaced Rohingya women need access to abortion, not just food and shelter
Thousands of Rohingya women and girls have been systematically raped by Myanmar's military

Anu Kumar and Sandeep Prasad
for CBC News
Posted: Sep 29, 2018

Rape is still being used as an instrument of war. Right now. Before our very eyes.

We know that since August 2017, thousands of Rohingya women and girls have been systematically raped by Myanmar military as a way to humiliate, terrify and dominate the Rohingya communities. In fact, Canadian parliamentarians recently unanimously voted to declare the systemic rape and killing of Rohingya an act of genocide.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/rohingya-women-1.4843335


Canada – Humanitarian experts laud Trudeau’s commitment to reproductive services abroad

Humanitarian experts laud Trudeau’s commitment to reproductive services abroad

By Janice Dickson
Published on Mar 22, 2018

Humanitarian groups are lauding the federal government’s commitment to initiatives abroad that focus on sexual reproductive health services — noting it as a marked change from the previous government that excluded those services.

“I just want to commend the government of Canada for their incredible leadership in keeping gender equity and sexual reproductive rights at the forefront of [its] feminist foreign policy and core part of all the humanitarian aid and support,” said Christina Wegs of CARE International and the lead on sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Continued: https://ipolitics.ca/2018/03/22/humanitarian-experts-laud-trudeaus-commitment-to-reproductive-services-abroad/


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


UN says Canadian funding for reproductive health agency critical after U.S. cuts

UN says Canadian funding for reproductive health agency critical after U.S. cuts

Michelle Zilio, OTTAWA
December 6, 2017

The head of the UN reproductive health and rights agency says Canada's financial support has been critical to the agency's work after President Donald Trump cut U.S. funding this year.

Natalia Kanem, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, says the withdrawal of almost $70-million (U.S.) in American funding will put millions of women's lives at risk in the years to come. Dr. Kanem, who was in Ottawa on Wednesday to launch the agency's annual population report, said the Canadian government's renewal of $15.6-million (Canadian) in funding is "lifesaving" for vulnerable women and girls in some of the poorest regions of the world.

Continued at source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/un-says-canadian-funding-for-reproductive-health-agency-critical-after-us-cuts/article37230933/


Health Canada eases restrictions on abortion pill Mifegymiso

Health Canada eases restrictions on abortion pill Mifegymiso

Sheryl Ubelacker, The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, November 7, 2017 2:34PM EST

TORONTO -- Women who want to use the abortion pill Mifegymiso can now take it farther along in their pregnancy, Health Canada said Tuesday in announcing changes to how the medication is prescribed and dispensed.

The federal department said the abortion pill can now be prescribed up to nine weeks into a pregnancy, rather than the previous limit of seven weeks.

Continued: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/health-canada-eases-restrictions-on-abortion-pill-mifegymiso-1.3667422


Canada: Universal access needed for abortion pill, advocates urge

Universal access needed for abortion pill, advocates urge

Laura Payton, Ottawa News Bureau Online Producer
Published Friday, July 21, 2017

OTTAWA -- An organization that advocates for women's sexual health rights has given the provincial premiers a November deadline to provide universal access to Mifegymiso, a drug used to end a pregnancy.

Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights is challenging the provinces to offer the medication free of charge to those who want it. New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and Alberta have already started offering it in place of surgical abortions.

Continued at source: CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/universal-access-needed-for-abortion-pill-advocates-urge-1.3512176


Canada stumps up cash for family planning in developing world, but won’t criticize Trump for stepping back

Canada stumps up cash for family planning in developing world, but won't criticize Trump for stepping back
'We have different views. This is very clear,' says minister about U.S. stance on abortion

By Peter Zimonjic, Catherine Cullen,
CBC News Posted: Jul 11, 2017

Canada appears unwilling to criticize the U.S. for pulling back from funding family planning in developing countries, even as the Trudeau government steps in to fill some of the void left behind by the Trump administration.

Speaking from the Family Planning Summit in London, International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau acknowledged the need for countries and private donors to offer funding to empower women.

Continued at source: CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-bibeau-london-trump-1.4198786


Health Canada eases restrictions on abortion pill

Health Canada eases restrictions on abortion pill
Health Canada has lifted two of the restrictions it had in place for Mifegymiso, a two-drug combination known as the abortion pill, advocates say

By: Alex Abdelwahab Metro Published on Thu May 18 2017

Health Canada has relaxed some of its restrictions for Mifegymiso, commonly known as the abortion pill, according to a prominent sexual health group.

Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights said Thursday it welcomed Health Canada’s announcement it was no longer requiring pharmacists to complete a mandatory training program before being able to dispense the drug.

Continued at source: Metro News: http://www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/2017/05/18/health-canada-eases-restrictions-on-abortion-pill.html