Mexico’s help to American women who need abortions should inspire Canada

March 23, 2023
Christabelle Sethna, Lori A. Brown

When a draft of an upcoming United States Supreme Court decision curtailing legal abortion access in the U.S. leaked in May 2022, Karina Gould, Canada’s minister of families, children and social development, declared that Americans seeking abortions would be welcomed north of the border.

A month later the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that provided constitutional protection for legal abortion in the U.S. via its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling giving state legislatures the power to regulate the procedure.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/mexicos-help-to-american-women-who-need-abortions-should-inspire-canada-202117

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/

Could free birth control be on the horizon in Ontario?

British Columbia will soon fully cover hormone-based contraception — and Ontario advocates are hoping this province will follow suit

Written by Diane Peters
Mar 15, 2023

Several times a month, a client at the SHORE Centre in Kitchener admits they can’t afford to pay for their birth control.

And SHORE’s executive director, TK Pritchard, suspects many more clients have a hard time paying for their birth control. “We know people who are choosing between buying food that week and getting their birth control,” Pritchard says. “Sometimes they tell us; sometimes they don’t.”

Continued: https://www.tvo.org/article/could-free-birth-control-be-on-the-horizon-in-ontario https://www.tvo.org/article/could-free-birth-control-be-on-the-horizon-in-ontario

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

News

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada

anti-choice deception

anti-choice misinformation

BC Humanist Association

crisis pregnancy centres

Joyce Arthur

Olivia Jensen

Teale Phelps Bondaroff

Canada

Activism

Anti-choice

Canada adds indecency, abortion offences to list of ‘unjust’ historic convictions

David Fraser, The Canadian Press
March 7, 2023

OTTAWA - People who have been convicted of a number of indecency and anti-abortion offences that are no longer on the books can now have those convictions expunged.

The list of "historically unjust offences" is being expanded to include a raft of charges that date back as far as 1892 and were largely directed at the LGBTQ community and women.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-adds-indecency-abortion-offences-to-list-of-unjust-historic-convictions-1.6302792

07.03.2023

News

expunged convictions

historically unjust offences

LGBTQ rights

Marco Mendicino

Parole Board of Canada

B.C.’s free contraception plan renews push for Ottawa, other provinces to follow suit

by Camille Bains The Canadian Press
March 1, 2023

Proponents of British Columbia’s move to provide free prescription contraception say the policy could spur other provinces to follow suit but a national plan would best serve people’s reproductive needs and slash health-care costs overall.

Obstetricians and reproductive rights advocates say other countries, including the United Kingdom, already provide free contraception as part of their health-care plans.

Continued: https://globalnews.ca/news/9520731/free-contraception-birth-control-canada-bc/

Canada – Volunteers say they won’t be silenced after ‘abortion is healthcare’ banner vandalized in Regina

Black spray paint used to make sign say 'abortion is murder'

Kendall Latimer · CBC News
Feb 23, 2023

A pro-abortion-rights banner has been temporarily taken down in Regina after it was vandalized. The unknown culprit used black spray paint to change the message from "abortion is healthcare" to "abortion is murder."

Volunteers who work with the group behind the banner say they won't be silenced and that the vandalism has only reinforced their desire to create change.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/regina-abortion-is-healthcare-banner-vandalized-1.6756205

23.02.2023

News

Abortion Is Healthcare Signs

anti-choice extremism

anti-choice hatred

anti-choice misogyny

anti-choice vandalism

Christine Jones

Dr. Susan McLellan

Jeremy Thomas

telemedicine abortion

Canada

Activism

Anti-choice

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

Canada – Doctors brace for a nationwide shortage of abortion pills

Mifegymiso manufacturer says supply chain to blame for second shortage in 3 months

Marina von Stackelberg · CBC News
Posted: Feb 16, 2023

A nationwide shortage of the abortion pill is expected next week⁠ — just months after previous shortage of the drug forced some patients to get surgical abortions instead.

"When our hands are tied, it's really frustrating to not be able to give the standard of care," said Dr. Emily Stuart, an abortion provider on Vancouver Island.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/abortion-pill-shortage-1.6750183

35 years after Morgentaler, abortion still not available for all in Canada

Thirty five years after the landmark Morgentaler decision the fight continues to ensure that the right to abortion is accessible to all.

by Frederique Chabot and Jill Doctoroff
January 27, 2023

Abortion was decriminalized in Canada 35 years ago this Saturday, January 28. 36 years ago, if you wanted an abortion, it meant sitting in front of a panel of doctors, usually men, who would decide if your abortion was “necessary.” That is, if you could access such a hospital. Not all hospitals created those committees, effectively refusing to provide abortion care at all. If such a committee did deem your story good enough to warrant an abortion—many did not—delays could span weeks.

Today, the legal hurdles are gone, but access is still a privilege not everyone in Canada has, and another question looms: Could what happened in the U.S. happen here too?

Continued: https://rabble.ca/health/35-years-after-morgentaler-abortion-still-not-available-for-all-in-canada/