Wellness Within marks International Safe Abortion Day Sept 28

Wellness Within is a registered non-profit organization working for reproductive justice, prison abolition, and health equity in K’jipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia). September 28 is recognized around the world as a day to work towards safer access to abortion everywhere, for everyone.

Abortion is completely decriminalized in Canada. There are no legal limitations on gestational age, no requirements for parental consent, or other laws interfering with patient experience. Medication abortion is widely available through primary care providers. From a regulatory perspective, Canada has the best access to abortion in the world.

One in three people with a uterus will have an abortion in their lifetime. Abortion is a common, normal, and clinically safe experience in Canada. But there is more to safety than the clinical intervention itself.  Stigma, travel, and personal costs impede patient safety.

Non-citizens and people without provincial/territorial health cards lack access to publicly funded care. Abortion care providers are spread out across the country and may be difficult or expensive to reach. Although abortion is safe and very common, it continues to be excluded from most health care professional educational programs. Lack of representation of Black, Indigenous, people of colour and 2SLGTBQIA+ people in abortion care provision results in culturally unsafe care. Even while abortion is publicly funded, contraception is not.

We can make this better. Reproductive justice requires universal access to safe abortion and contraception care.

Join us for a noon webinar on Sept 28 to talk about how we get there.

Speakers: Dr. Lianne Yoshida, Martha Paynter RN, Danielle LeBlanc RN, Clark MacIntosh, and Claudia Chender.

When: 12 noon Tuesday Sept 28

Where: Zoom. Register by emailing womenswellnesswithinns@gmail.com, and you will receive the link.