Aborsh: Recent Episodes
Rachel Cairns
Aborsh examines why talking about abortion is still such a big deal, what “choice” really means and looks like and why that answer is different for different people. Join Toronto-based artist Rachel Cairns as she shares her abortion story while speaking with experts and activists about reproductive freedom in Canada.
A complete list of guests from this season:
Joyce Arthur founder of Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
Chantal Parkinson from the Pro-Choice Society of Lethbridge and Southern Alberta
Fred Chabot from Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights
Jessi Taylor from Reproductive Justice New Brunswick
Rachael Johnstone
Judy Rebick
Darrah Teitel
Tom Hooper
Carolyn Egan from the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics
Dr Dustin Costescu
Claire Dion Fletcher co-chair of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives
Dr Ruth Habte
Dr Tunde-Byass President of the Black Physicians of Canada
Sarah Kaplan founder of the Institute for Gender and the Economy
Further reading:
Institute for Gender and the Economy
The Gender Pay Gap - Canadian Women’s Foundation:
The Pandemic delivered a surprise to Nordic countries: a baby boom
Fifty Years Later: Child Care and the Royal Commission on the Status of Women
Iceland shows ways to parental equality with fathers leave
All the facts you need to know about paternity leave in Canada
Being denied abortion has lasting impacts on health and finances
The facts: women and pandemics
Take Action:
Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights has created an AMAZING LIST of the many ways you can support reproductive rights locally, nationally, and globally!
Resources:
Myabortionoptions.ca offers a host of resources and tools for abortion in Canada.
List of abortion services in Canada – Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
Action Canada Access Line: a toll-free, confidential phone and text line. Call1-888-642-2725 or text 613-800-6757 Monday to Sunday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET:
The National Abortion Federation Hotline Fund: the largest national, toll-free, multilingual hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S. and Canada. Hotline: 1-800-772-9100 / Referral Line 1-877-257-0012
Choice Connect app helps connect you to abortion providers in your area
Further reading:
Access BC
Black Physicians of Canada
Henrietta Lacks
The Mothers of Modern Gynecology - Anarcha, Lucy, Betsy
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
LA Times - Pregnant people of colour more likely to get procedures they didn’t consent to, study finds
National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health - Racism and Health Equity
Perspectives on Health and Well Being in Black Communities in Toronto
Womb Care
BIPOC Women’s Health Network
Further reading:
Reproductive Justice New Brunswick
National Aboriginal Council of Midwives
Sister Song - history of reproductive justice
An Act of Genocide: Colonialism and the Sterilization of Aboriginal Women by Karen Stote
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph
The Secret Life of Canada - S2: The Indian Act
The Midwives with Mettle in Nunavik
Take Action:
Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights has created an AMAZING LIST of the many ways you can support reproductive rights locally, nationally, and globally!
Resources:
Myabortionoptions.ca offers a host of resources and tools for abortion in Canada.
List of abortion services in Canada – Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
Action Canada Access Line: a toll-free, confidential phone and text line. Call1-888-642-2725 or text 613-800-6757 Monday to Sunday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET
The National Abortion Federation Hotline Fund: the largest national, toll-free, multilingual hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S. and Canada. Hotline: 1-800-772-9100 / Referral Line 1-877-257-0012
Choice Connect app helps connect you to abortion providers in your area
The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line (1-800-721-0066) is available 24 hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of his or her residential school experience
Further reading:
Learn more about Dr Dustin Costescu and his practice
FAQs about The Abortion Pill (Mifegymiso) by Action Canada
Article: Access to surgical abortions in northwest BC a concern due to doctor shortages
Article: The Complicated Life of the Abortion Pill
Take Action:
Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights has created an AMAZING LIST of the many ways you can support reproductive rights locally, nationally, and globally!
Resources:
Myabortionoptions.ca offers a host of resources and tools for abortion in Canada.
www.howtouseabortionpill.org provides a detailed instruction manual on how to use abortion pills, including information on steps to be taken depending on individual health needs (e.g. if the person taking the pills is breastfeeding, has an IUD, has anemia, etc.)
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has a helpful 5-minute video about how abortion pills work
List of abortion services in Canada – Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
Action Canada Access Line: The Access Line is a toll-free, confidential phone and text line. Call1-888-642-2725 or text 613-800-6757 Monday to Sunday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET:
The National Abortion Federation Hotline Fund operates the largest national, toll-free, multilingual hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S. and Canada. Hotline: 1-800-772-9100 / Referral Line 1-877-257-0012: https://nafcanada.org
Choice Connect app helps connect you to abortion providers in your area
Plan C is an organization that helps people in the US access medication abortion, particularly in the US
Women on Web is an international online abortion service that provide safe, accessible and affordable online abortion care to women and people around the world.
Further reading:
Concrete actions Canada needs to take to ensure equal access to abortion and reproductive choice – The Conversation, by RN and abortion trainer Martha Paynter
Canada should focus on abortion access, not legislation – The Guardian, a piece by Aborsh’s story editor Tracey Lindeman
After Morgentaler: The Politics of Abortion in Canada by Rachael Johnstone:
The 1988 Morgentaler Supreme Court decision
Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics
Take Action
Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights has created an AMAZING LIST of the many ways you can support reproductive rights locally, nationally, and globally!
Resources:
Myabortionoptions.ca offers a host of resources and tools for abortion in Canada.
List of abortion services in Canada – Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
Action Canada Access Line: The Access Line is a toll-free, confidential phone and text line. Call1-888-642-2725 or text 613-800-6757 Monday to Sunday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET:
The National Abortion Federation Hotline Fund operates the largest national, toll-free, multilingual hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S. and Canada. Hotline: 1-800-772-9100 / Referral Line 1-877-257-0012: https://nafcanada.org
Choice Connect app helps connect you to abortion providers in your area
Further Reading
The Fruit Machine - Secret Life of Canada
Queering ’69: The Recriminalization of Homosexuality in Canada
Learn more about the We Demand protest
Learn about the White Paper, which attempted to abolish previous legal documents relating to Indigenous peoples in Canada, including the Indian Actand treaties.
Learn about Everett Klippert, the only Canadian ever declared a dangerous sexual offender and sentenced to what amounted to life in prison, for no other reason than he was a gay man.
Take Action
Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights have created an AMAZING LIST of the many ways you can support reproductive rights locally, nationally, and globally!
Follow the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity
Resources:
Myabortionoptions.ca offers a host of resources and tools for abortion in Canada.
List of abortion services in Canada – Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
Action Canada Access Line: The Access Line is a toll-free, confidential phone and text line. It is available for questions about sexual health, pregnancy options, abortion, safer sex and referrals to sexual health providers. Call1-888-642-2725 or text 613-800-6757 Monday to Sunday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET:
The National Abortion Federation Hotline Fund operates the largest national, toll-free, multilingual hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S. and Canada. Hotline: 1-800-772-9100 / Referral Line 1-877-257-0012
Choice Connect app helps connect you to abortion providers in your area
Further reading:
Follow Darrah Teitel on Twitter @Darrahteitel
Heroes In My Headby Judy Rebick
Anti-69: The mythologies surrounding the 1969 Criminal Code reform
The Abortion Caravan of 1970
Resources:
List of abortion services in Canada – Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
Action Canada Access Line: The Access Line is a toll-free, confidential phone and text line. It is available for questions about sexual health, pregnancy options, abortion, safer sex and referrals to sexual health providers. Call1-888-642-2725 or text 613-800-6757 Monday to Sunday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET:
The National Abortion Federation Hotline Fund operates the largest national, toll-free, multilingual hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S. and Canada. Hotline: 1-800-772-9100 / Referral Line 1-877-257-0012
Choice Connect app helps connect you to abortion providers in your area
The Pro-Choice Society of Lethbridge and Southern Alberta has a confidential 24-hour hotline for accurate and non-judgmental information on abortion and birth control, as well as financial and transportation assistance to access reproductive care. You can call them at 1-587-257-6833.
Further reading (and watching):
Abortion: From Controversy to Civility | Stephanie Gray | Talks at Google
What’s the situation with Crisis Pregnancy Centres - Action Canada
Lethbridge Pregnancy Care Centre 2019 Annual Report
Anti-choice organizations barred from Canada Summer Jobs Program
Catholics For Choice
Abortion bans and restrictions 2022 — Guttmacher Institute
2021: The worst year for abortion rights in almost half a century
People of all religions use birth control and have abortions:
The Turn Away Study
Abortion & Ben Shapiro — Philosophy Tube
Resources:
List of abortion services in Canada – Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada:
Action Canada Access Line: The Access Line is a toll-free, confidential phone and text line. It is available for questions about sexual health, pregnancy options, abortion, safer sex and referrals to sexual health providers. Call1-888-642-2725 or text 613-800-6757 Monday to Sunday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET
The National Abortion Federation Hotline Fund operates the largest national, toll-free, multilingual hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S. and Canada. Hotline: 1-800-772-9100 / Referral Line 1-877-257-0012
Choice Connect app helps connect you to abortion providers in your area
Further reading:
Canadian Civil Liberties Association - New Brunswick Abortion Rights
Access at a Glance: Abortion Services in Canada - Action Canada
Toronto-based artist, Rachel Cairns, shares her abortion story while speaking with experts and activists about the state of Canadian reproductive rights today.