Pro-choice protestors held counter-protest in light of anti-choice activism
UofT has an extensive history involving pro- and anti-choice protestors on its downtown campus. Graphic imagery and signs have been spotted around stretches of St. George and Harbord, calling for action against controversial groups on campus.
On May 8, a grassroots counter-protest was held in Queen’s Park in support of free, accessible abortions. The protest comes amid a larger anti-choice protest in the area, organized by the first ever Toronto chapter of March for Life, an anti-abortion activist movement with origins in Ottawa. March for Life seeks to roll back a woman’s right to choose, or in the words of Niagara MPP Sam Oosterhoff, “make abortion unthinkable in our lifetime.”
Flanked by MPPs Christina Mitas (Conservative, Scarborough Centre) and Will Bouma (Conservative, Brantford-Brant), the 20-year-old Conservative MPP delivered a speech to several hundred anti-abortion activists on the front lawn of the Ontario legislature, espousing his commitment to pro-life values.
Just behind them were another hundred and fifty counter-protesters yelling several profanities at the MPP. This grassroots pro-choice response may have been smaller in number than the anti-abortion coalition, but they were significantly more vocal. The pro-choice protesters drowned out the various anti-abortion speakers with chants, noise, and pro-choice cheers, in contrast to the March for Life supporters, who were largely silent to hear their speakers. Though the pro-choice movement was largely a eruption of support, the Canadian Federation Of Students sent representatives, including Sami Pritchard, to show solidarity. In conversation with The Strand, Pritchard said that people should be on guard for changes that the Ford Government might make, “since this new government has come into power been against students rights have been against people’s rights and our ability to make a choice.”
Also in attendance was Caroline Egan, from the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics, who has been protesting in support of abortion rights since the criminal code was changed in the 1980s. Egan was concerned with the tactics being used in states such as Georgia, and that similar tactics could be used to roll back abortion rights and accessibility here in Ontario.
While the Premier released a statement saying that he would not re-open the abortion debate, Egan asserts that Ford’s cuts to public health will hurt.
“Even when you look at what’s happening with the cuts to public health across the province, a huge cut of in this city particularly one billion dollars over the next ten years we see a situation where sexual health clinics are going to be cut. Birth control is going to be cut referrals for pregnancy assessments abortions. Referrals are going to be cut. So yeah we see it as really problematic for women’s rights to control our bodies and for the overall goal, the goal of our reproductive justice,” Egan said.
Still, Egan is hopeful for the future, saying that while it is disappointing to have to keep fighting battles she already thought won, there is hope because of the new people being brought into the fold. “We see so many young people coming up behind us who are just taking up the torch and being so clear that being pro-choice being pro birth control facilities is something that’s really strongly held by the wider community.”
