About 100 people gathered on the lawn of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly to speak out about the lack of fair and affordable access to abortions in the province.
The rally took place against the backdrop of thousands of protesters in other parts of Canada and the United States after the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade, who upheld the constitutional right to abortion.
For the organizers, it was also about showing how difficult it is even here in Canada and in New Brunswick.
“Living in New Brunswick, we know all too well the barriers to access to abortion and 2SLGBGTQIA+ health care and we offer our (support), our rage and our voice to Americans impacted by these developments” , said organizer Jenna Lyn Albert.
In New Brunswick, surgical abortions cannot be performed outside of the hospital.
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There are only three places where a person can get an abortion: two hospitals in Moncton and one in Bathurst. This leaves many people in the province without equitable access to services, advocates have repeatedly said.
Dr. Adrian Edgar, who was the former owner of Clinic 554, has been a tireless advocate for trans and queer healthcare, as well as abortions.
Edgar took over the old Morgentaler Clinic, which was facing its own difficulties at the time, having no provincial funding. It was about to close when Edgar took it over.
New Brunswick’s rules are among the strictest regarding surgical abortions, Edgar said.
“New Brunswick is so far behind the rest of Canada when it comes to gender and reproductive health care,” he said in an interview Saturday. “But seeing what’s happening in the United States wakes up a number of people who aren’t quite aware of the dire situation here.”
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He still performs surgical abortions, but they cost nearly $800.
“Our decision makers don’t care what’s best for us,” he said, addressing the crowd. “They care about controlling us.”
Provincial groups, including the Civil Liberties Association, have called on the current government to repeal Regulation 84-20, the law that bans abortions outside of hospitals.
The current Progressive Conservative government did not want to do that. The federal government cut health transfers to the province in response to its stance on abortions, but stopped forcing the government to comply with the Canada Health Act.
“These laws are intentional,” Edgar said. “The intention was to deprive women of their bodily autonomy and this violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
New Brunswick is the only jurisdiction in Canada that restricts out-of-hospital abortions.
But amid signs that read “my body, my choice” and “keep your rosaries out of my ovaries” was the anger and outrage felt by many supporters.
“Why the hell are we still doing this?” shouted Jennifer Stairs, the executive director of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party. “I don’t know what we have to do as New Brunswickers to say enough is enough, but damn it, enough is enough.
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