CANADA – Reproductive health advocates still waiting for Holt to keep promise of free birth control

With gender-based violence declared an epidemic, advocates say it’s time for province to fulfill promise

Hope Edmond · CBC News
Feb 03, 2026

Advocates are calling on the New Brunswick government to make good on its pledge to implement universal, no-cost contraception coverage.

Premier Susan Holt promised to make birth control free during her election campaign in 2024 by signing a pharmacare agreement with the federal government.

“We’re disappointed that the Holt government hasn’t signed a pharmacare deal,” said Tracy Glynn, a founder of Reproductive Justice New Brunswick and the national director of projects and operations for the Canadian Health Coalition.

Continued : https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/pharmacare-free-contraceptives-9.7068501

Lawless: The complete decriminalization of abortion… only in Canada

Needs No Introduction
September 3, 2025
Rabble.ca podcast: 1 hour

In our season nine premiere, we welcome Martha Paynter, nurse, scholar and author of Lawless: Abortion Under Complete Decriminalization. We discuss Canada’s complete decriminalization of abortion (the only country to do so), the fascinating and often fraught history that brought us to this point, abortion as a public good, the influence of the anti-choice lobby here and the overturning of Roe vs. Wade in the US, and what it takes to make abortion truly equitable when decriminalization is not enough.

Reflecting on the need to understand abortion as a public good, Paynter says:
“We have these major cultural forces that just reiterate this idea that abortion is rare and hard. And it’s not, it’s very normal. It’s very common and it takes seven minutes. And actually it will allow you to follow your dreams. Whether that dream is to escape a violent relationship or to finish your graduate degree or whatever. So we do need to have this shift in the way we talk about abortion. And we need to understand abortion, not just as healthcare, but as this force of good in our society.”

Continued: https://rabble.ca/podcast/lawless-the-complete-decriminalization-of-abortion/

04.09.2025

Interviews/Podcasts

decriminalization of abortion

Henry Morgentaler

Lawless: Abortion Under Complete Decriminalization

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

Why Alabama’s ruling that embryos are children could fuel anti-abortion movement in Canada

Decision also 'chilling' for people seeking IVF, says Canada Research Chair

Natalie Stechyson · CBC News
Feb 22, 2024

A decision by the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law has some reproductive rights advocates and fertility law experts in Canada concerned about a potential ripple effect.

The worry isn't necessarily that a decision like the one in Alabama, that was issued in wrongful death cases brought by couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident, could happen here, experts say.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/alabama-court-embryos-1.7121293

Canada – Allow surgical abortions in N.B. clinics, federal report says

Study says Ottawa lacks ‘straightforward’ authority to force province to improve access

Jacques Poitras · CBC News
Nov 14, 2023

A highly anticipated research study on surgical abortion access in New Brunswick recommends the province allow doctors to perform the procedure in community clinics as a way of eliminating barriers to the procedure.

But the report does not call on the federal government — which commissioned the study — to force the province to act, saying it's not clear Ottawa has a legal leg to stand on.

Its lead author, former University of New Brunswick law professor Jula Hughes, says the data from hospital abortions and those at Fredericton's Clinic 554 proves that "hospital access is just slower."

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/federal-report-calls-on-nb-to-allow-abortions-in-clinics-1.7028034

14.11.2023

funding of abortion clinics

Jula Hughes

Mark Holland

Martha Paynter

New Brunswick abortion access

The state of reproductive rights in Canada

It’s been one year since Roe v. Wade was overturned in the United States. In this piece, we look at abortion rights in Canada, accessibility issues and the future of abortion protection across the country.

by Stephen Wentzell
June 22, 2023

On June 24, 2022, the world watched in horror as the clock turned back decades in the U.S. in real-time as the Supreme Court overturned the Constitutional right to abortion access.

The move returned the right to abortion to the state level, overruling two landmark cases — Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992).

While the criminalization of reproductive rights in the U.S. has been a cause for concern north of the border, experts like Martha Paynter, author of Abortion to Abolition: Reproductive Health and Justice in Canada, have sought to dispel misconceptions about abortion access in our country.

Continued: https://rabble.ca/health/the-state-of-reproductive-rights-in-canada/

Canada – Rising use of abortion pill shifting the landscape, expert says

Medical abortions now outnumber surgical abortions 2-1 in province

Jacques Poitras · CBC News
May 31, 2023

The increased accessibility of the so-called "abortion pill" in New Brunswick is dramatically changing the reproductive-rights landscape and shifting the terms of the debate, according to an assistant professor at the University of New Brunswick.

Medical abortions, induced by medication, now outnumber surgical abortions by more than two to one, according to new provincial data collected by Martha Paynter, a teacher and researcher in the faculty of nursing.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/abortion-pill-expert-1.6859533

31.05.2023

New Brunswick Abortion Care Network

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

N.B. health workers launch abortion care network on Morgentaler anniversary

Lyndsay Armstrong The Canadian Press
January 26, 2023

Health-care providers in New Brunswick are launching a new abortion services network ahead of Saturday’s 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Morgentaler decision.

The New Brunswick Abortion Care Network’s 20 founding members _ who are in nursing, pharmacy, family medicine and obstetrics _ aim to increase access to and awareness of provincial abortion care, said Martha Paynter, a nursing professor and spokesperson for the new group.

Continued: https://q107.com/news/9438959/n-b-health-workers-launch-abortion-care-network-on-morgentaler-anniversary/

26.01.2023

New Brunswick Abortion Care Network

Canada

Activism

Health

Canada – The fight for reproductive justice is an abolitionist struggle

Review | October 3, 2022
by Maya Campo
Abortion to Abolition: Reproductive Health and Justice in Canada by Martha Paynter (Fernwood, 2022).

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, reproductive rights are coming under increasing attack. However, the mainstream political discourse about reproductive rights and access to abortion too often narrows this discussion in a way that replicates systemic oppression and white supremacy.

Martha Paynter’s new book, Abortion to Abolition, aims to recentre the discussion around a framework of reproductive justice, which Paynter highlights as being developed by women of colour. Paynter takes an intersectional approach to the abortion rights, presenting case studies that highlight systemic issues of colonialism, homophobia and transphobia, racism, and classism that infringe upon reproductive rights in Canada.

Continued: https://springmag.ca/the-fight-for-reproductive-justice-is-an-abolitionist-struggle