It’s one of those hot summer days that discourages a person from doing outside activities. It’s not blistering on the scale of the heat wave currently going on in Europe, but it’s still a bit hot and I don’t tolerate heat well. Still, I went for a walk and did some gardening. I then spent most of the day knitting and when not knitting, scrolling social media or playing with Buster. By the supper hour I was feeling like it was a wasted day, but I thought I could rescue it from being a total loss by writing a blog post.
Among the terrible things going on in the world, the overturning of Roe Vs Wade is probably not the absolute worst, however, it will have direct consequences for at least a generation of women in the US, perhaps considerably more. It’s a blow to the gains the women’s rights movement has made and may continue to have a domino affect on other minority rights (oh, wait, women aren’t a minority are they? And yet…) I’m heartbroken thinking about all the women who will be adversely affected by this awful, short-sighted, misogynist step taken by the so-called highest court of the USA. It’s a reflection, I suppose, of the general attitude of the last president and his minions, plus the alt-right, Christian fundamentalists. I don’t understand where they get off thinking they have the right to interfere with the most private decisions women can make about their bodies. I hope with my whole heart that this state of affairs won’t be allowed to continue very long. In my imagination I see legions of doctors and hospitals rising up and refusing to abide by this decision, which is so very contrary to women’s health. How can they say they’re upholding the hippocratic oath and also abide by this ruling? I guess it won’t happen, given the ridiculous penalties the powers that be are planning to mete out to anyone performing an abortion. Also, the insurance companies will certainly take the opportunity to penalize those who do. Any time they can save money, they surely will, regardless. It’s such a godawful system. I guess they need a Henry Morgentaler-type who would take this on.
After writing that last sentence last night, I went down a Wiki rabbit hole about Morgentaler and wow, it was interesting! If he hadn’t decided to take on the status quo and just start doing abortions out in the open, but in a safe, professional clinic, we would be in a similar mess to the US no doubt. He was arrested numerous times, endured death threats, firebombing of his clinics, and many court cases, where he almost always won, because the jury refused to convict. Yet, the government kept taking him on and the cases would go up to the Supreme Court. In the end, (spoiler), the abortions were put under the Health Care umbrella (where it should be), and now provinces are required to pay for abortions. However, there are two, New Brunswick and PEI, which still won’t pay for them outside of a hospital setting. That means that getting an abortion in those provinces is more complicated than it should be. If you would like to read the whole story, here’s the link.. His accomplishments are impressive.
We need to keep in mind that our rights are not won “once and for all”. The reversal that happened in the US could definitely happen here, given the right (or in my imaginary case, the wrong) government in power. It might be a little harder, but it could happen. Mulroney’s government in 1990 tried to recriminalize abortion but was defeated in the Senate, probably because two botched back alley abortions (one resulting in the death of the young woman) happened in the same time period and received a lot of media attention. People were outraged, and so the bill died on the table. Saner heads prevailed, thank goodness.
Canadians need to remember the lessons of the past (and the present) and keep checking to see whether our rights are under threat. We also need to fight further to make sure women all over Canada have easy access to abortion because it is still not so easy in some places. There are crackpots here too, who like to sit outside abortion clinics to protest, threaten and make women feel like criminals just for looking after themselves and minding their own business. Let’s stay vigilant for the sake of our young girls and women.
Here’s a little song by Joni Mitchell called “Little Green”.
I love to hear from you!