Laws and ethics must work together to achieve gender equality

Editorial, By Surjit Singh Flora, statetimes_editor
Mar 23, 2025

Female feticide and sex-selective abortion are major issues globally, worsened by medical advancements like ultrasonography and amniocentesis that allow parents to know the fetus’s sex early in pregnancy.

… A 2022 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) highlighted India, China, Azerbaijan, and Vietnam as the countries with the most unfavourable sex ratios. In patriarchal societies, the preference for male children, combined with smaller family sizes and sex-determination technologies, has led to a notable demographic imbalance. This imbalance has worsened issues like the increasing trafficking of women, forced marriages, and overall social instability.

Continued: https://statetimes.in/laws-and-ethics-must-work-together-to-achieve-gender-equality/

23.03.2025

Editorial

PCPNDT Act

sex ratio imbalance

sex selection abortion

sex-selective abortion

Surjit Singh Flora

UNFPA

United Nations Population Fund

How will Canada lead on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the era of Trump?

Barely two months into his Presidency, Donald Trump has devastated global sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

by Jacqueline Potvin
March 21, 2025

On January 24, Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy (the “global gag rule,”) which restricts US global health funding from going to any non-government organization that provides abortion services, advocacy, or information.

This reinstatement will harm women and people who can become pregnant, limiting their access to important healthcare information and services. Its effects will be exacerbated by wide-sweeping cuts to US Agency for International Development (USAID) funding and staff. These moves come at a time when Canada’s own commitments to global sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), which have recently been strong, may be at risk.

Continued: https://rabble.ca/human-rights/how-will-canada-lead-on-sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-rights-in-the-era-of-trump/

Canada – Review: Personal and political collide in ‘Hypothetical Baby’ at Factory Theatre

Performer-writer shares her abortion experience

By: Andrea Perez
March 6, 2025

DO YOU HAVE a uterus? What kind of birth control do you use? Have you ever had an abortion? And … did these questions make you uncomfortable? Performer and writer Rachel Cairns has decided to answer these publicly for her audiences and turn her abortion, a typically intensely private affair, into art.

Hypothetical Baby, a Nightwood Theatre production in association with The Howland Company, cracks open a world of socio-economic, personal and grander political questions about abortion in Canada and beyond. After its successful indie run in 2023, in this tight 90-minute show, Cairns tells the real-life story of her own unexpected IUD pregnancy in 2019 while working as an artist (and shoe shiner) in Downtown Toronto. This solo show is charming, honest and nimbly high-energy.

Continued: https://nextmag.ca/review-personal-and-political-collide-in-hypothetical-baby-at-factory-theatre/

06.03.2025

Film, Art, Books

abortion story

Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster

Hypothetical Baby

one-woman play about abortion

Rachel Cairns

Canada

Activism

Canada – Yukon woman shines light on the cracks in abortion access in the territory

Prohibitive costs, limited services, and stigma make obtaining abortion care challenging, say some physicians

Cali McTavish · CBC News
Mar 03, 2025

A Yukon woman is raising the alarm about the cost and difficulty of accessing abortion medication in the territory.

Jane Doe says she had to seek an abortion through the emergency room, because the Opal clinic — the territory's only dedicated abortion services provider — is only open one day a week, for four hours. Jane Doe is a pseudonym. CBC is not disclosing her identity for personal safety reasons.

That day, she says, she was left waiting, watching other patients come and go, until a female doctor was on shift — even though she hadn't asked to be seen by a female doctor.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-woman-shines-light-on-the-cracks-in-abortion-access-in-the-territory-1.7472276

03.03.2025

Sigourny Whipple-Grantham

telemedicine abortion

Yukon abortion access

Yukon Status of Women Council

Yukon Strategy for Patient Oriented Research

Canada

Health

Human Rights

Why some female physicians are eyeing a move to Canada from the U.S.

By Avis Favaro
February 18, 2025

Some female physicians in the U.S. are considering moving north of the border to practice medicine due to the changing political landscape in their country. “Anyone looking for a part-time gynecologist in Ontario?” wrote Dr. Kirti Patel in a recent post on social media.

She says it is the first time in her career she has actively looked at moving to Canada. “It’s a terrifying time for women and women’s doctors in the U.S.,” she told CTV News, pointing to the case of a New York physician criminally charged with prescribing an abortion drug, mifepristone, to a young woman in Louisianna. Texas, meanwhile, has introduced a 99-year prison sentence for doctors who perform “illegal abortions.”

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/article/why-some-female-physicians-are-eyeing-a-move-to-canada-from-the-us/

Canada – Study finds northern prisons lack abortion and contraception policies

Women and gender-diverse people the fastest growing demographic in Canada’s prisons, researchers say

Caitrin Pilkington · CBC News
Jan 31, 2025

Northern governments say all inmates have the opportunity to access reproductive health services, but some researchers and advocates say clearer policies are needed to reduce barriers.

Researchers with the University of New Brunswick conducted a systematic review of abortion and contraception policies across the country. The study, which was published in The Prison Journal last November, found many Canadian correctional facilities don't have a formal mandate to ensure access to these services.

The study found northern institutions have few policies in place that address reproductive health care.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/study-finds-northern-prisons-lack-abortion-and-contraception-policies-1.7446420

United States Blocks Global Funding for Sexual and Reproductive Rights. Again.

Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights
Jan 27, 2025

In his first week in office, Donald Trump reinstated the Global Gag Rule, re-igniting a crisis for global health and reproductive rights. This policy restricts non-US organizations from receiving US international assistance if they provide, educate, refer or advocate for safe abortion, even with resources from other donors.

First introduced in 1984 under President Ronald Reagan, the Global Gag Rule is a policy that has been repeatedly repealed and reinstated depending on the U.S. administration. Research shows that this policy increases maternal mortality, reduces access to contraception, and pushes people toward unsafe abortions.

Continued: https://www.actioncanadashr.org/news/2025-01-27-united-states-blocks-global-funding-sexual-and-reproductive-rights-again

Abortion access in Canada ahead of a federal election

rabble radio
Podcast: 30 minutes
January 24, 2025

In 2022, when Roe v. Wade was overturned in the United States, it sent shockwaves through Canada as we questioned how this decision might impact us. For many, it sparked a new sense of concern that similar actions could be taken here, prompting a closer examination of the work needed to strengthen and expand reproductive rights and access in Canada.

This week, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. While he promises to usher in a “golden age,” in the five days he’s been in power, he’s already made extremely harmful decisions concerning health care, gender identity, citizenship, the environment and much more.

Continued: https://rabble.ca/podcast/abortion-access-in-canada-ahead-of-a-federal-election/

24.01.2025

Interviews/Podcasts

abortion access barriers

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada

crisis pregnancy centres

Canada – Legal challenge on N.B. abortion access is over

Canadian Civil Liberties Association officially drops lawsuit after November repeal of ban on clinic funding

CBC News
Jan 13, 2025

A lawsuit against the New Brunswick government over access to abortion is officially over.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has discontinued the legal action that was intended to force the province to fund procedural abortions in clinics outside hospitals.

The case was launched four years ago but became redundant on Nov. 7, when newly elected Premier Susan Holt announced her cabinet had repealed a section of a provincial regulation that prevented funding clinic abortions.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/legal-challenge-on-n-b-abortion-access-is-over-1.7430097

13.01.2025

News

Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Canada – New West to become first B.C. city restricting the delivery of graphic abortion images

Abortion-related flyers will need to be in opaque envelopes that have a warning and sender’s address when being distributed in New Westminster.

Theresa McManus
Dec 17, 2024

New Westminster is set to become the first B.C. city to adopt a bylaw restricting the delivery of graphic images.

On Monday, council unanimously supported a graphic image delivery bylaw that will regulate the unsolicited delivery of graphic abortion-related flyers to residences. The bylaw will require materials with graphic images to be delivered inside an opaque envelope that has a warning on the outside and information showing the name and address of the sender; the bylaw is specific to graphic images of aborted fetuses and does not apply to offensive graphic images in general.

“We know that New Westminster and Burnaby are the two municipalities that apparently have received these … flyers delivered without envelopes, to many, many homes,” said Coun. Ruby Campbell. “And I am just horrified that that's been happening.”

Continued: https://www.newwestrecord.ca/local-news/new-west-to-become-first-bc-city-restricting-the-delivery-of-graphic-abortion-images-9965990

18.12.2024