My body, my choice! ---- In early September, a new anti-abortion law came into
effect in Texas. Now, in this South American state, abortion is illegal after sixweeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest! Worse still, people can sue
anyone involved in the abortion process, as Thomas Harms points out in an article
for RFI: "This device of the new law against abortion may concern the taxi driver
who drives the woman. pregnant in a clinic, the friend who advises her a doctor
or any association that helps financially the person who wishes to have an
abortion. "[1]. As if this attack on women's lives and the ensuing repression
weren't enough, Texas law "offers 10,000 dollars in 'compensation' to the
plaintiff in the event of a conviction by the courts"[2]. The Christian
anti-abortion groupTexas Right to Life is promoting via videos a website where it
is possible to go and denounce the "violators" of this new law to kill women.
Even before the law came into effect, many women had to turn to clinics in
neighboring states as they were desperately short of options in Texas. In
Oklahoma, a clinic that performs abortion has recently received double the number
of requests, with two-thirds of these people coming from Texas. The same goes for
Kansas and Colorado. Having to go to another state makes abortion even more
difficult because of the costs that this entails, the work holidays that are
often not possible to take, having to look after the children, etc. Traveling
from one state to another is also extremely dangerous for undocumented women who
risk being stopped at checkpoints .
In March 2020, Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, totally banned the right to
abortion for more than a month in an executive order related to COVID-19. As a
result, the number of women who visited a family planning center in the Rocky
Mountain region (Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nevada) has multiplied by 12
during this month. In Kansas, the number of Texans who had access to abortion
rose from 25 in 2019 to 289 in 2020. On average, these people had to travel more
than 1,000 kilometers to qualify for this essential service[3]. The states that
welcome these women from Texas are already struggling to meet the demand on their
own territory. The clinics are not numerous and it should not be believed that
abortions are performed 5 days a week 24/24. The time slots are often very limited,
To add an additional layer, the American Supreme Court refused to suspend the
application of this liberticidal law. It will examine it to judge its
constitutionality, but since the majority of the Court is conservative since the
appointments made by Donald Trump[4], it is likely that there is no chance that
the law will be blocked. Patriarchy is doing well... A bunch of men passing laws
to manage women's bodies, giving an embryo the size of a grain of rice more power
over women's bodies than a woman can. have on their own body, prohibit their
fundamental right to abortion, which will inevitably lead to deaths via makeshift
abortions, impoverish women who will have to pay several hundred dollars to go to
a clinic in a neighboring state when possible, etc. However, this South American
state is not an isolated case. On various scales, whether in Texas or in Canada,
the right to abortion is always attacked and called into question.
In Sherbrooke, a 40-day vigil against the right to abortion
From September 22 to October 31, the Christian organization Campagne Québec-Vie
will hold an anti-abortion vigil in front of the family planning clinic of the
CIUSS de l'Estrie-CHUS. This event is the first of Campagne Québec-Vie outside of
Montreal[5]. Even though abortion is legal in Quebec, nothing is set in stone and
there is always a risk that women will lose this fundamental right. Just remember
the Harper days when MPs backbencherof the Conservative Party were used to send
political balloons into trying to make changes to laws that would restrict the
right to abortion. These attempts are a means of testing what will be the
response of opposition parties, the population and civil society. Take the pulse
on the issue of abortion and if there is no resistance, move forward with their
new backward laws.
It is obvious that the two events, the Texas law and the Sherbrooke vigil, are
not even close to having similar repercussions. Between a law that annihilates
the right to abortion for women and a gathering of a few Christians in front of a
CIUSS, there are light years. However, this does not mean that this vigilance and
this type of action should be taken lightly. During their vigil, several women
will be intimidated by the people in the rally and they will distribute
anti-abortion information while trying to join their ranks. During this kind of
event, the media give them a platform to get their message across and through the
band, help them spread their ideas. We must kill all movements at the root,
groups and political parties that try to question the right to abortion. The
right of women to decide their bodies is not negotiable!
1. RFI:United States: Texas offers 10,000 dollars to anyone who denounces an
abortion .
2. Ibid .
3. Seattle Times:New Texas abortion law pushes women to out-of-state clinics .
4. RFI: United States: Joe Biden denounces the decision of the Supreme Court on
abortion in Texas .
5. La Tribune:An anti-abortion movement is organizing a 40-day vigil .
Posted 15 hours ago by Collectif Emma Goldman
http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.com/2021/09/du-texas-sherbrooke-attaques-contre-le.html
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