Court decision on Roe v. Wade puts health care at risk: Our statement

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banner that says keep abortion legal

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the nearly 50-year-old decision that established the right to access abortion services. It’s a decision that will put lives at risk, and disproportionately impact those who are poor, racialized or otherwise marginalized.

As a health care union, we affirm that access to abortion is health care.

We stand with abortion and reproductive health care providers who are also at great risk, and are straining to provide safe abortions to those who have been denied reproductive health care in their own communities or states.

We stand with American unions, women’s and 2SLGBTQI groups and other civil society organizations who are opposing efforts to roll back their rights in the courts and in legislatures across the U.S.

We must also do what we can to assist those from south of the border most at risk as a result of this decision, to access reproductive health care in Canada.

Friday’s ruling south of the border is a reminder that we must remain vigilant to protect the rights we have in Canada to access abortion services, and recognize that this is a right that is out of reach for many.

The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada says that: “Equity within sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care includes making contraception free, allowing abortion pills to be sold over the counter, strengthening access to abortion in rural and remote areas, implementing $10 a day childcare, enforcing the Canada Health Act against provinces that fail to provide adequate SRH, implementing comprehensive sexual health education in all Canadian schools, increasing healthcare funding to provinces to expand SRH, and more.”

Abortion rights are human rights.

Barb Nederpel                               Meena Brisard                                        Betty Valenzuela
President                                        Secretary-Business Manager                 Financial Secretary