Pro-choice activists secure women’s rights stronghold
On March 31, 2016, the Government of P.E.I. announced that abortions will be made available to the Island province by the end of the year. Activists with the group Abortion Access Now PEI Inc. have lobbied for the change in legislation, arguing that the legislation bars women from equal healthcare rights.
Currently, women seeking the medical procedure must travel off the island to Halifax, Nova Scotia or Moncton, New Brunswick. Although P.E.I. Medicare covers the procedure, it often becomes a logistical problem for women, who would have to get a P.E.I. doctor’s referral, take time off work, and arrange transportation. Effectively, having to travel off the island creates a culture of shame for women who seek a right other Canadian women can freely access. Abortion Access Now PEI Inc. critiques the Island to the extent of accusing the province of breaching the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Abortions became legal in Canada after the historic trial of Polish-Canadian physician Dr. Henry Morgentaler. Morgentaler’s case paved the way for the 1988 Supreme Court ruling in favour of legalizing abortions.
However, immediately following the Supreme Court ruling, P.E.I. passed a resolution to counter the federal legislation.
Kim Stanton, legal director of the Women’s Legal Education and Access Fund (LEAF), worked in conjunction with Abortion Access Now PEI Inc. on the issue. She argues that the last three decades of abortion debate have been based on creating and enforcing a province-wide moral standard.
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]A woman’s right to choose is fundamental in Canada.[/pullquote]
“They passed a nonbinding resolution in their legislature after the Morgentaler decision in the late 1980s. And they said that abortion won’t be provided on this island. So it was a moral stance, not a legal stance,” Stanton said. “It’s really important that the P.E.I. government has acknowledged its constitutional obligations to residents of P.E.I.”
LEAF and Abortion Access Now PEI Inc. took the provincial government to court in January 2016, advocating the pro-choice argument that women should have access to publicly funded abortions on the island, just as in any other Canadian province.
The P.E.I. government, however unenthusiastically, did respond.
P.E.I. Premier Wade MacLauchlan announced plans for a women’s health clinic, which is expected to provide various women’s reproductive health services by the end of the year. The decision means that P.E.I. will soon uphold the national standard for Canadian women’s right to access reproductive healthcare.
“The co-location of services, including counseling and support services, will provide a wider level of support for women and best use of public health care resources,” P.E.I. Health and Wellness Minister Robert Henderson said in a statement.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was away in the U.S. at the time of the announcement, applauded the decision via Twitter.
“A woman’s right to choose is fundamental in Canada. We welcome today’s announcement by P.E.I. Premier MacLauchlan on reproductive services,” tweeted Trudeau.