Reproductive Justice New Brunswick launched new campaign titled Axe 84.20 to hold Premier Brian Gallant up to his election promise of removing all barriers to abortion services.
Allison Webster is the treasurer, founding member and spokesperson for RJNB. She said 84.20 is a provincial regulation which makes it more difficult for women to access abortion services. She said the law was amended when Gallant was elected but not completely repealed.
“It used to be the regulation that required abortion services to be provided by a gynecologist, signed off on by two doctors. Those restrictions were repealed but they left 84.20 in the law book so that it still remains only funded in specific hospitals.”
Webster said New Brunswick is the only province in Canada where clinic abortions are available, but not funded by provincial health care.
Webster said this campaign, which will include social media elements, is to redirect public attention to the issue of abortion access in New Brunswick.
“We want to bring it back to the public eye so people know what the situation is and that it really needs to be changed,” she said. “We want to get rid of regulation 84.20. We don’t think it’s fair that abortion services are singled out as services that can only be funded in these few certain hospitals.”
The campaign was launched on Nov. 24, with a public lecture featuring Colleen MacQuarrie, a University of Prince Edward Island professor.
“She was also extremely instrumental in the recent victory on Prince Edward Island to finally get abortion services to the island,” Webster said. “P.E.I. patients always had to leave the island to get abortion services historically.”
MacQuarrie spoke about the long road leading to attaining abortion services on P.E.I. as well as the importance of grass-roots movements in affecting change.
“[We examined] how stigma and fear and shame were operating in the province back in 2010 and how the government had turned a blind eye, or a calloused indifferent stance to all of the evidence we kept bringing forward from the research project that we launched.”
She said she is surprised by the stories she heard throughout her research from women who were seeking abortion services or couldn’t find them in time.
“In those stories, every single women experienced access as a needlessly punishing, harmful regime. Many barriers, lots of information resource barriers, but what sticks out in my mind was the number of women who tried to self-induce an abortion … Abortion induction myths were rampant.”
She said she spoke to women about their experiences with travelling to get to the service, being turned away by physicians and waiting for too long.
“The level of indignity that people were suffering, these stories highlight why we need to create abortion access that is unfettered.”
She said raising awareness is also important because “abortion was still happening, but it was unsafe.”
“Some of the pieces of 84.20 were scratched out but the offending clause still remains, that you must go to a hospital.”
Webster said this year is the two-year anniversary the original parts of 84.20 were amended.
“We’re still waiting on that real change.”
