Some abortion content

I’ve always said that abortion is a lot like the priesthood — if my father had gone through with seminary, I would never have been born. It would have been a shame, but he would have been a good priest. So goes life.

There’s a lot of stuff being said and written about abortion in Canada and a lot of it is not great. CBC has allowed, in at least four different shows, the voices of forced birth advocates, in a fake attempt at showing ‘unbias.’ Unsurprisingly, despite my 2020 book Take Back the Fight, I’ve not been asked to comment.

Here is a bunch of stuff you can read and listen to if you’re curious about how I’ve written about abortion in Canada. I take a movement approach, first and foremost, understanding that Canada’s current regime was not handed to us from upon high, but was the result of years of mass struggle. Some of that struggle broke the law: Dr. Morgentaler performed abortions knowing full-well he could face jail time. But his clinic, and the movement that rose up to defend it, was pivotal in ensuring that today, Canadians have some of the best access to abortion services of any country in the world. But.

But our access is limited. Healthcare is on the brink (of collapse? Of enormous strain?). This morning, just after The Current spent 15 minutes talking to Carolyn Egan about the struggle for abortion in Canada, it played its topic changing interlude music and then went on to discuss overcrowded ERs. As if the two aren’t linked.

In Canada, it is not uncommon for someone to arrive at emerge miscarrying and being told to wait in the waiting room. I know people who have miscarried while they waited to see a doctor, on an uncomfortable and undignified waiting room chair. Where is that in this conversation? What journalist is making the extremely obvious link between our overburded healthcare system and access to reproductive health?

Here are some things you can check out:

Sandy and Nora talk abortion: https://sandyandnora.com/episode-195-the-fight-for-abortion/

(This is a favourite episode of mine. Sandy’s knowledge is so expansive and she jumps over the border, back and forth, with insight you wont hear anywhere else).

Me, warning that the pandemic will impact access to abortion, but back in 2020: https://readpassage.com/covid-19-may-limit-access-to-abortions-throughout-canada/

Take Back the Fight the Podcast: https://harbingermedianetwork.com/show/take-back-the-fight/

(This is what you should listen to if you want to learn more about the movement side to all of this)

And — if you’re curious about one of the most innovative campaigns to get abortion to people, watch VESSEL:

https://vesselthefilm.com/