Until the late 1960s, the authorities on abortion were for the most part men—politicians, clergy, lawyers, physicians, all of whom had an interest in regulating women’s bodies. Even today, when we hear women speak publicly about abortion, the voices are usually those of the leaders of women’s and abortion rights organizations, women who hold political office, and, on occasion, female physicians. We also hear quite frequently from spokeswomen for anti-abortion groups. Rarely, however, do we hear the voices of ordinary women—women whose lives have been in some way touched by abortion. Their thoughts typically owe more to human circumstance than to ideology, and without them, we run the risk of thinking and talking about the issue of abortion only in the abstract.
Without Apology seeks to address this issue by gathering the voices of activists, feminists, and scholars as well as abortion providers and clinic support staff alongside the stories of women whose experience with abortion is more personal. With the particular aim of moving beyond the polarizing rhetoric that has characterized the issue of abortion and reproductive justice for so long, Without Apology is an engrossing and arresting account that will promote both reflection and discussion.
420 pages | © 2016
Table of Contents
Introduction: Without Apology / Shannon Stettner
1 Abortion in Canada: A History / Shannon Stettner
Part I Speaking from Experience
2 Giving Voice to the Unspeakable / Judith Mintz
3 T.A. / Clarissa Hurley
4 But I Kept All These Things, and Pondered Them in My Heart / Jess Woolford
5 Keep It Small / Evey Hornbeck
6 A Bad Law and a Bold Woman / Bernadette Wagner
7 I Don’t Blame the Abortion / Rebecca
8 [untitled] / Mackenzie
Part II Abortion Rights Activism
9 The Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics: Reproductive Freedom and the Campaign to Overturn the Federal Abortion Law / Carolyn Egan and Linda Gardner
10 The Radical Handmaids and Stephen Harper’s War on Women, Battleground 2012: Reopening the Abortion Debate / Aalya Ahmad / Radical Handmaids
11 Arts4choice.com / Martha Solomon
12 "We Can Get There Faster If We All Move Together": The Birth of a Reproductive Justice Academic Activist / Colleen MacQuarrie
13 We Need to See Change: One Woman’s Motivations for Pushing Waves on Prince Edward Island / Sadie Roberts
14 Pro-Choice Organizing on Canadian University Campuses: Unpacking the Debate over Free Speech Versus Hate Speech / Kelly Holloway
Part III Challenging Opposing Positions
15 Blinded by the Right: My Past as an Anti-abortion Activist / Natalie Lochwin
16 One Woman’s Evolving View of Abortion / Tracey L. Anderson
17 Pro-Choice for God’s Sake / Shannon Pinkney
18 Abortion Commentary / Laura Wershler
19 Pro-abortion and Proud: Ex