Reproductive control of Indigenous women continues around the world, say survivors and researchers

Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will meet with researchers to share stories, heal and advocate for change.

June 27, 2022
by Gillian Rutherford

Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will gather with academic researchers at a summit in Edmonton this summer to share stories, heal through art and ceremony, and set an agenda for change.

The full extent of reproductive control practices around the world is not known, but they have been historically — and continue to be — targeted at Indigenous, poor and migrant women, according to principal investigator Denise Spitzer, professor in the School of Public Health and former Canada Research Chair in Gender, Migration and Health.

Continued: https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2022/06/reproductive-control-of-indigenous-women-continues-around-the-world.html

27.06.2022

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coerced contraception

Denise Spitzer

forced sterilization

Indigenous right to abortion

reproductive coercion

Will Canada become Metro Detroit’s closest abortion haven?

Hannah Mackay, The Detroit News
June 22, 2022

Canada might become the closest place for Metro Detroit residents to get a legal abortion if the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion is overturned and anti-abortion forces win their legal battle to let a 1931 Michigan law banning abortion take effect.

Canadian Social Development and Families Minister Karina Gould told CBC Canada that Americans would be allowed to seek reproductive care, including abortions, across the border. Gould made the offer last month, soon after a leaked draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court indicated a conservative majority of justices was poised to overturn Roe.

Continued: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/06/22/will-windsor-canada-become-detroit-michigan-closest-abortion-haven/7569266001/

Canada – Not quite there: abortion pill access in Sask. still limited

“If you have practitioners unwilling to oversee medical terminations, it doesn’t matter if they’re covered by healthcare or not.”

Larissa Kurz
Jun 18, 2022

Saskatchewan’s approval of an abortion pill under the provincial drug plan was hailed as a victory by sexual health advocates who had long pressed the government to improve options and access for pregnancy termination.

But five years later, the move has fallen short of expectations.

Continued: https://leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/not-quite-there-abortion-pill-access-in-sask-still-limited

Canada – Connecting the dots between Roe v. Wade, sex workers and bodily autonomy

The same people who criminalize sex work, criminalize other “serious offences” against sexual norms such as medical treatment for trans people and access to abortion.

by Natasha Darling
June 3, 2022

The last couple of years have been rough in terms of bad news all around: a global pandemic, numerous assaults on democracy, climate change, police brutality, war in Ukraine, inflation. To add to this dumpster fire, leaked documents show that Roe v. Wade is on its way to being reversed in America. This reversal will overturn constitutional protections for abortion in the U.S.

Last week, Canadian Blood Services announced that they would no longer ban blood and plasma donations from sex workers. Instead, they would only accept donations from sex workers who haven’t seen a client in more than a year. On the surface, these two events seem unrelated. Today, I would like to connect the dots, and talk about how sex workers, bodily autonomy, and reproductive rights are interconnected.

Continued: https://rabble.ca/columnists/connecting-the-dots-between-roe-v-wade-sex-workers-and-bodily-autonomy/

03.06.2022

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International Travel to Access Abortion Is a Global Health Problem—Not a Solution

6/3/2022
by ALYSON O'DANIEL and ELIZABETH ZIFF

On Wednesday, May 25, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) signed into law a total ban on abortion—continuing the nationwide assault on access to reproductive healthcare. As millions of patients face abortion prohibitions in their home states and the potential end of protections afforded by Roe v. Wade, proposed solutions to the prospect of forced pregnancy in the U.S. are inadequate.

Karina Gould, Canada’s minister of families, children and social development, has previously assured American women that they can obtain safe abortions in Canada. Since last fall, activists in Mexico have been working feverishly to establish networks that supply abortion pills to women in the U.S. And, while the gestures of support from neighbors and allies are appreciated, outsourcing abortion care is not a solution to the problems overturning Roe v. Wade will exacerbate.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2022/06/03/international-travel-abortion-access/

03.06.2022

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barriers for low-income women

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Canada – A Week in the Life: An OBGYN Who Provides Abortions

‘Only the pregnant person can know what continuing or ending a pregnancy means to them.’ First in an occasional series.

andrea bennett, TodayTheTyee.ca
June 1, 2022

Today, The Tyee starts an occasional series that covers a day — or a week — in a person’s work life. We’ll be speaking with people in blue-, white- and pink-collar professions, about what they find stressful and joyful, and how current labour and cultural climates are affecting their work lives. Why? Because we often live in our own bubbles, with people who have jobs like our own and, often, similar lives. Getting to know other people, including what they do and how they feel about their work, can help us get out of those bubbles and understand each other’s worlds.

Our first interview subject is an obstetrician gynecologist who provides a full range of reproductive health care, including medical and surgical abortions, in B.C.

Continued: https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/06/01/OBGYN-Who-Provides-Abortions/

01.06.2022

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Canada – Ukrainian victims of sexual violence need reproductive health care: Sajjan

Canadian Press
May 29, 2022

OTTAWA — International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan says he told Canadian officials in Ukraine and neighbouring countries to ensure that women sexually assaulted by Russian troops get the help they need — including access to abortions if they wish.

He said pregnant sexual assault victims who have fled Ukraine, where abortion is legal, to Poland, which last year outlawed abortion in most cases, could be helped to travel to elsewhere in Europe.

Continued: https://chatnewstoday.ca/2022/05/29/ukrainian-victims-of-sexual-violence-need-reproductive-health-care-sajjan/

29.05.2022

sexual assault and abortion

Overturning Roe v. Wade would have wide-reaching implications beyond U.S. borders

May 29, 2022
Candace Johnson

After a U.S. Supreme Court opinion indicating Roe v. Wade could be overturned was leaked earlier this month, there has been a lot of discussion about how it will impact Americans. But this will also have wide-reaching implications outside of the United States.

U.S. policy decisions are influential beyond their borders. While the fall of Roe v. Wade would not immediately create legal changes in other countries, there will certainly be spillover effects.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/overturning-roe-v-wade-would-have-wide-reaching-implications-beyond-u-s-borders-183192

29.05.2022

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Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights

Migrant women workers in Canada continue to face barriers to abortion access: advocates

By Erika Ibrahim, The Canadian Press
May 28, 2022

While she has helped several migrant workers access abortion services in Canada, Evelyn Encalada Grez said one woman comes to mind.

“The migrant woman was so afraid of being found out that she needed to be taken by somebody else outside of the farm for a medical appointment,” said Encalada Grez, a transnational researcher and advocate for migrant workers who has been studying the subject for more than 20 years.

Continued: https://globalnews.ca/news/8876954/migrant-women-canada-abortion-access-barrier/

28.05.2022

migrant women and abortion

Mohini Datta-Ray

Planned Parenthood Toronto

Canada

Health

Human Rights

Canada – The 30-year struggle for abortion access in P.E.I. shows how hard this fight can be

Let us not take for granted our right to access abortion services

Rebecca Viau · for CBC Opinion
Posted: May 17, 2022

I have been on the front line of P.E.I.'s fight for abortion access. I saw firsthand the harm done when access to abortion is limited or restricted.

In 2014, I had stepped forward in the movement and became a beacon of sorts, a public face for people to connect to. Once someone connected with me seeking to access abortion services, I would mobilize the community-organized support network that could help them find the treatment they needed in a timely manner. Because abortion services weren't available on P.E.I. until 2017, anyone seeking an abortion had to travel off-Island for treatment.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-abortion-becka-viau-1.6454849