The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade generated various reactions from Carleton University staff and students alike. Several Carleton community members said Canadians should focus on their own access to abortion while supporting their neighbours.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24 in a 5-4 decision. The landmark ruling had previously established the constitutional right to abortion access during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy in 1973. Now, almost 50 years later, almost half the country’s states are expected to severely restrict or ban access to abortion.
Melissa Haussman, a political science professor at Carleton University, said people do not realize the full extent of this legislation.
“The problem is that once [governments] starts closing [abortion] facilities down in certain states—as has happened in Texas—there’s a lot more services that are gone,” Haussman said.
She explained many abortion clinics provide services that are actually proven to reduce abortions, including comprehensive sexual education and access to contraception.
“It’s not just abortion,” she said. “[Abortion is] like one to two per cent of what these clinics actually do.”
The Carleton University Student Association (CUSA) president, Anastasia Lettieri, wrote in an email to the Charlatan that she can’t speak on behalf of the entire organization, but said this decision “takes away from the decades of advocacy and the courage of those who have continued to fight for gender equality, bodily autonomy, [and] reproductive rights/justice.”
CUSA is set to vote on a motion to establish itself as a “pro-reproductive rights and justice” organization on July 25. This came after the student issues committee recommended council postpone indefinitely a motion to establish CUSA as a pro-choice organization.
Isabella Sanchez*, a third-year journalism student at Carleton from San Antonio, TX, said she is “more than appalled” by the recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
As soon as the decision was announced, Sanchez said her mother, a university professor, bought Plan B (an emergency contraceptive) to have on hand for Sanchez, her sister and any of her students who may need it. Demand for morning-after pills such as Restart spiked by more than 600 per cent following the Roe v. Wade decision.
“[Plan B pills] are now impossible to find in Texas because they are completely out of stock and people are doing what they can to protect themselves,” she said. “As a woman, especially as a Hispanic woman, I’m honestly afraid to go back to Texas.”
Sanchez added she finds it troubling that the U.S. is restricting abortion access but not helping to prevent pregnancy.
“It’s kind of neglectful of the government to say you can’t get an abortion but we’re not going to give you these resources to prevent you from getting pregnant in the first place,” Sanchez said, adding that she would like to see increased access to sexual education and contraception.
CUSA Womxn Centre representatives spoke to how devastating the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is. The centre provides a safe space for those who identify as Womxn as well as free condoms, pregnancy tests and menstrual products, according to its website.
“It has become very clear over the past few years that there is a war on women,” Yumna Khan, programming coordinator for Carleton’s Womxn Centre, wrote in an email to the Charlatan.
Aminah Derman, administrative coordinator for the Womxn Centre, said in an email she urges Canadians to look at issues within Canada.
“We often believe that Canada is a lot more progressive than the U.S. but in reality we have a plethora of issues here as well,” she wrote.
Haussman echoed these remarks, saying that Canada’s abortion services are not accessible enough to market itself as an ‘abortion haven.’
“Depending on where you live—for example New Brunswick, there hasn’t been the clinic access—if you only have hospital access, there’s a very long wait time that is a byproduct of that,” Haussman said.
New Brunswick has just three hospitals and one clinic offering abortion services. Ontario has just 11 abortion clinics—nine in the greater Toronto area, one in London, and one in Ottawa.
According to a 2019 study by Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, no abortion clinics in Canada provide abortion services beyond 23 weeks and 6 days into a pregnancy.
Sanchez said she hopes Carleton and other Canadian universities will be open to starting conversations surrounding sexual health, including talking about abortion and sexual health education.
On campus, Khan and Derman said they will have information on abortion access available for the Carleton community.
“There are ways for [American students] to access abortions in Canada and the Womxn’s centre will have the information readily available for any students that require an abortion,” Derman wrote.
CUSA will be conducting research into access to reproductive justice services and how it impacts Carleton students, Lettieri wrote.
As for the U.S., Sanchez said the situation is dire.
“[The overturning of Roe v. Wade] is a chaotic mess and I’m not sure who’s going to clean it up,” she said.
* Isabella Sanchez has contributed to the Charlatan.
Featured image via Unsplash.
