My anti-choice filled day

I could not have asked for a worse day to have to face anti-choice propaganda. I woke up to killer cramps, rain, and a vicious wind (I’m on the east coast of Canada, for those who have been and can relate).

In my second class, I was subjected to a lecture on how our recently written essays were not very good. To escape I went to the washroom and taped to the mirror was a black poster, with red writing. I cannot remember exactly what it said but gave various definitions of "people". First it gave the definition from pre-1918 Canada when women were not considered people. Then, it gave an excerpt from the Canadian Indian Act, where Native peoples were not given people status within Canada (or something to that extent). Then it chillingly gave a quote from the Reichstag stating that the Jewish population were not considered people. Lastly – as you can guess – it gave a quote from a Manitoba court ruling that stated that "the unborn child is not protected as a person under the Canadian Constitution". Then it pithily added "history seems doomed to repeat itself".

Obviously I’m preaching to the converted but there are so so so many things wrong with this. Comparing a woman’s agency over her own body to the abominations of the Holocaust? Using cases of descrimination against women to justify taking away their reproductive rights? I still feel sick. But undeniably the worst thing about it was that there was no organization name on it. I am subjected to this idiocy while I go to the washroom and yet they give me no chance to retaliate? Plus, they used so much tape that I could not peel it off of the glass. Cowards. I will, however, be writing an op-ed piece for my school paper.

Several hours later, after a blood donation that went awry and kept me incapacitated at the clinic for three hours, I was safely back in bed when I heard some anti-choice talk in the hallway (my room assignment this year, much to my chagrin, is on the wellness floor. This means it’s substance free. I support a person’s choice not to drink. I support that 75% of them are part of the "Christian Fellowship Society" but I do not support me having to listen to their opinions). I dragged my groggy self out of bed and listened to them condemning the FOCA and Obama. And claiming that a woman can get an abortion at any stage in pregnancy in Canada. True that R v. Morgentaler did eliminate any abortion laws but no doctors in Canada will perform an abortion after 16 weeks, unless the woman’s life is at risk.

I wanted to tell them this. I wanted to tell them that sure it’s legal but some provinces don’t give funding for it (in Nova Scotia, where I go to school, it is only partially funded). The access is terrible so that if anyone in P.E.I. or Nova Scotia needed an abortion they would have to go the the only hospital in Halifax that offers it. I wanted to ask the three men standing there why they deserved an opinion on what a woman does with her body? And most importantly I wanted to ask why, if they are so pro-life, I did not see any of them at the blood-donor clinic tonight (I was there for its duration)? Instead, I told them that I didn’t need to hear conversations about abortion outside of my door, that they should go into their rooms to discuss, and that I was pro-choice. I’m full of regret now and needless to say, feeling very frustrated.

I know nothing I’ve said is a new topic to feministing but I appreciate the outlet for my venting. It gives my best friend and boyfriend the night off

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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