N.L. abortion activists condemn overturning of Roe v. Wade ruling
Decision is a step backwards for woman's rights, say activists
The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision, which secured constitutional protection for abortion, is being panned by activists in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The ruling, which has the potential to limit abortion access across the country by allowing U.S. states to restrict or ban the procedure, was leaked last month after a draft of the ruling was made public.
At least 13 states have trigger laws in place regarding limiting abortion to come into effect as soon as the opinion was overturned.
Although Newfoundland abortion rights activist Jenn Deon knew the ruling was coming, it didn't make digesting the decision any easier.
"You're still angry. You're still shocked. It's hard to believe that they would take such a backwards step with human rights," Deon told CBC News on Friday.
Deon said the decision won't stop abortions from happening in the United States but it will make the choice unsafe for women.
"A woman's right to access health care is such a basic thing.… They're going to be split by an economic divide of who can afford to travel to somewhere where they can access this care," she said. "It is a dramatic impact on millions of lives."
Noreen Golfman helped set up Newfoundland and Labrador's first abortion clinic in the late 1980s, working with Henry Morgentaler, a Canadian physician considered a pioneer for abortion rights in the country.
She sees the decision having devastating consequences in the United States.
"What I do hope we see is huge amounts of resistance in all the right places. People have to vote to challenge and resist, and to work for the future," Golfman said.
"I think it really sets the United States of America up as a kind of outlier in the Western world. It's not just sending women's rights backwards, it's like sending the whole country backwards in so many ways."
Golfman says she believes the decision could have an effect in Canada because some people in Canada share similar anti-abortion views.
"Perhaps not so much that we feel it here, but we know it's present in pockets of the country.… I don't want to say it's a domino effect, but our rights need to be defended."
"Abortion care cannot be taken for granted. It's not an easy thing, and it needs to be protected for even women here in Newfoundland and Labrador," Deon added.
'We want it to be safe'
Promoting access to abortions and shedding stigma is especially important, according to registered nurse Rolanda Ryan. Ryan owns the Athena Clinic, a St. John's clinic that performs 95 per cent of abortions done in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Ryan also operates satellite abortion clinics in different parts of the province once a month.
"There is no such thing as no abortion, but there is such a thing as safe versus unsafe abortion," Ryan said Friday.
"The access [in Newfoundland and Labrador] could be better, but in the grand scheme of things we're working the best we can to try and get the people the care they need no matter where they are."
Deon, who serves as producing artistic director of PerSIStence Theatre Company, hopes to explore the stories of women seeking access to abortion care in The Abortion Monologues, a production the company is putting on next weekend in response to the Supreme Court decision.
Ryan says she was devastated by Friday's ruling, saying it will harm the lives of women across the United States.
"I've had people who walk into my clinic who live in St. John's, who have easy access to abortion care, who still have tried to kill themselves rather than seek an abortion because they would rather be dead than pregnant," she said.
"Making it unsafe … they would have killed themselves. We want abortion to be available, and we want it to be safe. Nobody has to die to exercise the right over their own bodily autonomy."
With files from Henrike Wilhelm and On The Go