Without Apology
Without Apology
Writings on Abortion in Canada
Until the late 1960s, the authorities on abortion were for the mostpart men—politicians, clergy, lawyers, physicians, all of whomhad an interest in regulating women’s bodies. Even today, when wehear women speak publicly about abortion, the voices are usually thoseof 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-abortiongroups. Rarely, however, do we hear the voices of ordinarywomen—women whose lives have been in some way touched byabortion. Their thoughts typically owe more to human circumstance thanto ideology, and without them, we run the risk of thinking and talkingabout the issue of abortion only in the abstract.
Without Apology seeks to address this issue by gatheringthe voices of activists, feminists, and scholars as well as abortionproviders and clinic support staff alongside the stories of women whoseexperience with abortion is more personal. With the particular aim ofmoving beyond the polarizing rhetoric that has characterized the issueof abortion and reproductive justice for so long, WithoutApology is an engrossing and arresting account that will promoteboth reflection and discussion.
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 / JessWoolford
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 Freedomand the Campaign to Overturn the Federal Abortion Law / Carolyn Eganand 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": TheBirth of a Reproductive Justice Academic Activist / ColleenMacQuarrie
13 We Need to See Change: One Woman’s Motivations for PushingWaves on Prince Edward Island / Sadie Roberts
14 Pro-Choice Organizing on Canadian University Campuses: Unpackingthe 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: Exploring Alternative ReproductiveJustice Labels / Laura Gillespie
20 Same as It Ever Was: Anti-Choice Extremism and the "ThirdWay" / Jane Cawthorne
21 Women over Ideology / Nick Van der Graaf
Part IV Practitioners and Clinic Support
22 Lessons from Life in Abortion Care / Peggy Cooke
23 "Do you think I will go to hell for this?" / RuthMiller
24 The Counsellor’s Voice / Erin Mullan
25 Empathy: Whose Choice Is OK? / Ellen Wiebe
26 Therapeutic Abortion / Sterling Haynes
27 "I am proud to provide abortions" / Evan James
Part V Sites of Struggle
28 The Choice Between Rights and Revolution / Karen Stote
29 Sex Selection Abortions: The Politics of Race in MulticulturalCanada / Bindy Kang
30 The Public Pregnancy: How the Fetal Debut and the Public HealthParadigm Affect Pregnancy Practice / Jen Rinaldi
31 A Harm-Reduction Approach to Abortion / Shannon Dea
The Unfinished Revolution / Shannon Stettner
