abortion

Today marks twenty years since the Morgentaler decision in Canada, affirming a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion. As usual, Jill at Feministe has the whole story more eloquently and comprehensively than I could do.

Canada is very progressive in many ways, but, like most countries, it still has a long way to go when it comes to abortion rights. To all the Canadians out there, I wish you a very happy anniversary — and best of luck in making next year even better.

A heartfelt amen to that. Feministe is also linking to this article from the Globe and Mail, highlighting the problems in the Canadian ‘choice’ system—specifically, that there often is no choice, or at least that alternatives are scarce and treatment options are few, for hundreds of thousands of women: drug-induced abortion (think RU-486) isn’t even available in this country! This just blows my mind—you can buy Allegra and codeine over the counter here, but you can’t even get something a hundred times as essential by a doctor’s prescription. I can’t wait to see the web-based Canadian pharmacy companies illegally importing drugs from America to fill this void in the system.

So yeah. Both countries have a long way to go, it would appear. We are making progress, slowly, on the legal, ethical, and medical fronts, but it’s going to be a while before we can put this issue to bed, especially given how out of the spotlight abortion is in Canada, as compared to in the States.

Today, in the United States, is the thirty-fifth anniversary of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which essentially held that women may elect to have an abortion for any reason up until the point when the fetus becomes ‘viable’. Ever since this ruling, social and religious conservatives have attempted to curtail or even reverse this crucial right, and unfortunately have been seeing some successes in various parts of the country with measures like parental-notification laws, laws mandating waiting periods before the abortion may be carried out, and laws restricting particular kinds of abortion techniques.

Jill Filipovic has an excellent post up at Feministe, which is also posted in the Huffington Post, outlining ‘10 Reasons to Support Reproductive Justice on Roe Day’. There’s nothing there I feel I can improve upon—just go read it. Also check out her roundup of the best Roe Day commentary out there.