Abortion

de Shannon Stettner, Kristin Burnett, Travis Hay

"When Dr. Henry Morgentaler, Canada's best-known abortion rights advocate, died in 2013, activists and scholars began to reassess the state of abortion in the country. In this volume, Canada's foremost researchers challenge current thinking by revealing the discrepancy between what Canadians believe the law to be after the 1988 Morgentaler decision and abortion experiences on the ground. Showcasing new theoretical frameworks and approaches from law, history, medicine, women's studies, and political science, these timely essays reveal the diversity of abortion experiences across the country, past and present, and make a case for shifting the debate from abortion rights to reproductive justice. Part 1, "History," explores how Indigenous and settler women experienced abortion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Part 2, "Experience," highlights the active role that ordinary women have played in shaping debates about reproductive health, rights, and law in Canada. Part 3, "Politics," focuses on the implications of the Morgentaler decision and its impact on abortion access in different regions. Part 4, "Discourse and Reproductive Justice," illuminates the opportunities afforded by the reproductive justice framework and the limitations of focusing debates on "choice" or medicalization without taking the well-being of those seeking abortion into full account."--