Over 100 people gathered at Guelph City Hall for the Reproductive Freedom for All Rally on Monday night, protesting the overturning of Roe V. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Abortion is healthcare” was heard throughout the rally, repeated again and again by each speaker.
Speakers included Kendra Weeheim, a nurse practitioner from SHORE, who was the first female medical abortion providers in Waterloo Region. She has been providing medical abortions for the last five years.
“All pregnant people have the same three options: parent, adoption, abortion. That right is there for every pregnant person every time I diagnose a pregnancy,” she said. “This should be the norm and not the exception.”
There was also Hannah Geuvreau-Turner, who spoke about their own experiences with abortion; Lauren Burrows touched on how access to abortion impacts marginalized communities; Kate Nixon spoke about abortion access for unhoused and low income individuals. Other speakers included Amy Smoke and TK Pritchard, the executive director of SHORE.
Julie Pedersen, an OVC student at the University of Guelph says she came out to the rally because what’s happening in the States is “scary.”
“Just because it’s not happening here, doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot Canada has to work on for reproductive rights,” she said.
“I’m 23, I’m in vet school, so like, four more years of my degree. So having a kid right now, it’s not financially stable, it’s not stable in my life at all.”
Pedersen’s own mother was adopted from a teen pregnancy, and Pedersen says even she believes abortion should be accessible.
“My mom was one of the lucky ones. I know not every kid is. And I know I can’t give what I need to a kid.”
“Seeing everybody here, coming together, is easing the fear and the anger you have. Hopefully we don’t vote for people in government who support anti-choice.”
Organizers and speakers called for more accessible reproductive health services in Guelph.
“It’s a common misconception that it’s easy to access abortion in Canada,” Pritchard said, noting that people often have to travel far distances across the country to access services. Guelphites are not exempt from this: abortions are not currently performed at the Guelph General Hospital.
“I’m tired of watching people struggle to get basic healthcare in their communities. There is much work to be done.”
Pritchard noted that we need to urge the federal government to enforce the Health Canada Act, and the provincial government to invest in abortion infrastructure.
One of the organizers from Guelph Resource Centre for Gender Empowerment, And Diversity, Sarah Scanlon, said city council needs to invest in reproductive healthcare, “because it’s not accessible in Guelph and beyond.”
To address the inaccessibility of reproductive healthcare, they have a list of demands to make abortion “more accessible, de-stigamatized and safer: Free access to morning after and abortion pills; increased funding for SHORE so they can expand their services to Guelph; offer surgical abortions and remove the “deeply harmful” pro-life bus ads that are on Guelph city busses.
“Abortion is healthcare, period. End of story,” Scanlon said.
