The Daily: Now that 30 years have passed since the decriminalization of abortion in Canada, how easy or difficult is it today to access abortion care in Canada?

Sandeep Prasad: Practical access to abortion care in Canada, despite thirty years of decriminalization, is still difficult. There are numerous barriers that still […] hamper the abilities of those seeking abortion services to actually access them. Things like uneven distribution of services, the concentration of services in urban centres, creates large distances that people still have to travel to access these services; these are of course compounded by other factors of oppression such as poverty or young age, making it even more difficult to access care. Fortunately, there have been steps in the right direction of expanding abortion access primarily through the role of mifegymiso [the Canadian trade name for the abortion pill mifepristone] within Canada, which is the [World Health Organization] gold standard of medical abortion. But at this point, there is a lot more work to do in terms of achieving an effective rollout of mifegymiso that would transform access to this drug. So there is promise in that, but at the same time, we also have to confront the realities of anti-choice actors who create barriers to access through misleading information, biased counselling practices, and through activities that stigmatize abortion. These make it far more difficult for those seeking abortion care to actually find the information they need to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

MD: What is the role of Action Canada in this situation?

SP: Action Canada is Canada’s national sexual and reproductive health rights organization. As such, we have a number of issues that we focus on in the sexual and reproductive health and rights field, and abortion care is one of the key areas of this focus. Abortion work relates to both helping to ensure that accurate information related to abortion is out there for the public, and that through our access line, members of the public seeking to terminate pregnancy are supported with accurate, unbiased information about abortion procedures as well as referrals to the appropriate care nearest to them. We’re helping to connect people seeking to terminate pregnancy to services that they want. Furthermore, our organization is also engaged in policy work on abortion. We see that advocacy is critical to changing the landscape of abortion and have been prioritizing within that advocacy the universal cost coverage of mifegymiso, [and] ensuring that restrictions relating to mifegymiso are removed.

MD: Action Canada in its current form has evolved out of prior organizations like the “Canadian Federation of Societies for Federation Planning” or “Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada” that carried a different language in their names. Why should we be talking about sexual health and rights rather than reproductive health and rights?

SP: When we come down to it, it’s all the same issue. Whether we’re talking about abortion, or sexual orientation, same-sex sexuality, trans rights, issues around contraception, we’re all talking about, on the one level, the right to bodily autonomy; the right of each person to do with their body as they want and to have the information and education services to support their decision making around their body. […] In a very practical way, abortion rights are sexual rights. Abortion stigma is also stigma related to sexuality. So all of these issues are fundamentally connected and we use “sexual rights” as a shorthand to describe all of these issues because we see that, traditionally, when we look at definitions of reproductive health and reproductive rights, the sexual is defined through the reproductive. We intentionally want to change that paradigm. Reproduction is an aspect of sexuality. There are numerous aspects of sexuality, but our broader frame is sexual rights which is inclusive of reproductive rights.

MD: The Abortion Beyond Bounds conference focused on self-managed abortion. How is self-managed abortion widening access to abortion care and which barriers remain?

SP: It is important that we work towards expanding options for how individuals interact with their body, how they manage the care of their body, whether that’s about methods of contraception, methods of terminating pregnancy, we want to expand the frontiers of possibilities for them to do that and to support them in doing that, and to have the control over the level of support they want in doing that. The autonomy needs to rest with that individual who is making the decision on their own in relation to their bodies. In terms of self-management of abortion care, we need to be looking into options that remove abortion care from the medical system. There is ample evidence that self-managed abortion is safe and effective. And there are a lot of examples in many other countries that we can point to that have been using medications through community access for abortion, which we need to look at in Canada.

MD: In health care systems that are not accessible to all, how does self-managed abortion widen access to underserved communities?

SP: The geographic circumstances of the country are such that it is very difficult for individuals who live in rural or geographically remote areas to access care. […] Expanding the scope of practice for different types of providers is one important step […] but what is also important is more self-managed models of abortion care as well. So we need something that is inclusive of these parts, because we need to get to a place where access to abortion is community-based and is accessible to communities which are remote.

MD: You were instrumental in starting the Sexual Rights Initiative, an intersectional Global South-North coalition of organizations that work towards advancing sexual rights in the United Nations. What is the place of a Global North organization in global sexual health activism?

SP: That is a great question, thank you for asking that. There are a few places for a Global North organization. First of all, as a merged organization, we also have in our organizational history the work of Action Canada for Population and Development (ACPD), which did a lot of formative work initially within the intergovernmental human rights system on sexual and reproductive rights. Quickly, we saw the need for a Global South-Global North coalition and for that coalition to actually be of national and regional organizations doing work on these issues. Where ACDP was different though, was that it didn’t actually do domestic advocacy. So one of the appeals for ACPD for entering into this merger is that we need to be more like our partners in the Global South that are doing effective national work and that come together with us to do that kind of work as well. We wanted to model that. So our engagement with partners in the Global South fundamentally changed the structure of our organization. As Action Canada, we have lent our ability to act as coordinators. Our job has been to ensure that resources are pooled together for this work, but also to ensure that each partner is bringing its analysis from its national and regional context to that work at the global level, so now we are able to participate on that more fully, doing national work like our other partners within the coalition.

MD: Where do you see your place in a sexual health organization?

SP: I’m very fortunate because I went to law school to do human rights work globally with my law degree. And while there were a lot of individuals like me in my law school, there aren’t that many jobs within the human rights field [after graduate school]. I’m one of the lucky ones who actually gets to do human rights work in Canada and globally as a professional. My own interest in wanting to go to law school to do that [comes from when] as a young queer guy I did a lot of organizing on campus at Queen’s University, which is quite conservative and quite white as well, that was particularly focused on LGBTQ issues. When you start looking at some issues, often times you can see the relationship to other issues of social justice. That compelled me to have a broader perspective on how sexuality and gender are fundamentally interrelated, but also to go to law school to work on these broader issues professionally.

This interview has been edited for accuracy and clarity

The post The Future of Abortion Rights appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The Maldives held their presidential election on September 23. The incumbent President Abdulla Yameen represented the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM). Ibrahim Mohamed Solih represented the opposition, Maldives Democratic Party (MDP). Solih won the election with 58 per cent of the votes, which was 17 points more than Yameen. Mariyam Shiuna, executive director of Transparency Maldives, said that “prior to Sunday’s elections, many feared about potential fraud [in Yameen’s favour] due to limited freedom of mass media.” According to BBC News, international monitors have been banned from observing the election, and most of the foreign media’s access was restricted on election day, which raised questions about the elections’ integrity. For Solih, his election is “the first successful step on the road to justice.”

Yameen recently signed a free trade agreement with China, and accepted Chinese investments in current and future construction projects in the Maldives. Solih supports an alliance with India and strongly opposes business with China. Solih believes China is allying itself with the Maldives to access the essential trade routes of the Indian Ocean. According to analysts, the Maldives’ association with China was an important issue for voters, and for China itself. Yameen’s loss could mean the loss of trade access for China. The Maldives’ future, and its new foreign policies, will be determined once the national electoral commission approves Solih’s claim on winning the election.

More Detentions of Nicaraguan Activists

Amaya Eva Coppens, a Nicaraguan-Belgian activist and medical student, was detained in León, Nicaragua on September 10, 2018. The police
accused her of “terrorism,” “assaults,” and the “illegal possession of firearms.” Together with the imprisonment of dozens of other
activists, the arrest of Coppens is part of the latest wave of Nicaraguan authorities detaining activists, many of which are student members of the April protests. In April 2018, Nicaragua’s Ortega administration announced a social security reform that would increase workers’ tax contributions, and ultimately lead to a decrease in pensions. Nicaraguan pensioners, students, merchants, members of feminist and Campesino (farmer) movements, and other citizens protested the proposal until it was revoked 22 April 2018 by President Ortega.

Discontent with the Nicaraguan authorities’ violent handling of the demonstrations has resulted in ongoing protests since April 2018. The protestors demand the resignation of President Ortega and of Vice-President, Rosario Murillo, who is also Ortega’s spouse. Concerns of police violence, infringements on free speech, violations of Indigenous peoples’ land rights and violence against women in the country are among the reasons people believe the government should resign.

According to the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (Asociación Nicaragüense Pro Derechos Humanos), the Nicaraguan authorities’ violent response to the protests has resulted in the deaths of over 500, the injury of over 4,000 and the detention of over 1,400 individuals since April 2018. The Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights (Centro Nicaragüense por los Derechos Humanos), as well as the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, criticize the detention of Coppens and other activists.

Coppens was held in incommunicado detention for nine days. This means that she was denied access to a lawyer, family members, or an independent physician. She has now been transferred to the women’s prison “La Esperanza” in Tipitapa. According to a statement from her father, despite a visit from her parents being monitored and filmed by prison staff, Amaya managed to communicate that she was beaten up while in detention. She also revealed that she has not been tortured due to her diplomatic position as a Belgian citizen. However, her fellow Nicaraguan prisoners may not be immune to this treatment. A Nicaragua Today article described the conditions in the prison as “inhumane” and reported that prisoners are denied medical attention despite some of them enduring critical illnesses such as terminal cancer.

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford Testifies at Kavanaugh Hearings

Supreme Court nominee Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 27, following allegations of sexual assault. Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, Justice Kavanaugh previously worked as a top aide to President George W. Bush, and in the US Court of Appeals. He is considered to be a likely opponent of Roe v. Wade.

The allegations against Kavanaugh by a then-anonymous woman first arose in July, Senator Dianne Feinstein, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had requested to delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote to the Supreme Court. Ford came public with her allegations against Kavanaugh on Sept. 16. In the past week, three other women, Deborah Ramirez, Julie Swetnick, and one other anonymous woman
have come forward with allegations against Kavanaugh.

In Ford’s testimony, she described her experiences with Kavanaugh in detail, stating that her “motivation in coming forward was to provide the facts about how Mr Kavanaugh’s actions have damaged [her] life, so that [the committee] can take that into serious consideration as [they] make [their] decision about how to proceed.” Remaining composed during her testimony, she recalled the alleged sexual assault by Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge. When asked her most vivid memory of the night, she responded with “all of them having fun at my expense.” Kavanaugh adressed the allegations in a heated testimony, describing the current allegations as a political smear campaign by the left. He spoke of his good character as attested to by the women in his life, his relationship to alcohol, and his high school experience as he remembers it.

War, Famine, and Disease Plague Yemen

Content warning: death, war, terrorism

In 2017, 50,000 children lost their lives due to war in Yemen. Now, as the UN reports, Yemen faces a famine, which is expected to put 5 million children at risk of starvation. For almost three years Yemen has endured civil war between Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed forces who support Yemen’s former government. The Houthi rebels have been fighting for terms surrounding political and economic demands. By the end of this year, the country may be facing “the world’s worst humanitarian disaster for 50 years,” says Mark Lowcock, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Seventy-five per cent of the population is in need of assistance, but fighting near the main port Hodeidah is blocking the distribution of vital supplies.

In September 2014, the Houthi rebel group overtook the capital Sana’a and tried to seize Yemen’s second largest city, Aden, in order to overthrow the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. In response to the Houthi’s actions, a coalition backed by neighbouring country Saudi Arabia, launched airstrikes in an attempt to restore Yemen’s official government. These missiles, as well as other weapons and intelligence, came from the USA and the UK. Without this support, it would be difficult for Saudi Arabia to continue the war. The US has also claimed to have deployed a small number of troops on the ground, and France and the UK are also supplying the Saudi-led coalition with weapons and intelligence. Although Canada has provided upwards of $65 million in humanitarian aid to Yemen, it has also sold more than $284 million in weapons to the countries that are bombing Yemen. As a result of the war, both Al-Qaeda and ISIL have spread within the country; Al-Qaeda has taken over territory in the south of Yemen, while ISIL has launched an attack killing more than 140 people. The bombing operations have killed tens of thousands of people and caused the displacement of over 3 million. Many members of the US Congress, as well as humanitarian organizations, have called for the US and others to be charged with war crimes for the crisis in Yemen. Yemen’s people and economy are suffering greatly because of the war; the price of food has doubled, and the nation’s currency, the Yemeni riyal, has collapsed.

The war has taken a great toll on an already impoverished society. Airstrikes are killing civilians in hospitals and schools; most of the casualties are children. In August of this year, a US-backed Saudi missile hit a bus carrying children killing at least 29 children and wounding 30 more. Now, citizens of Yemen face famine and an outbreak of cholera. “We may now be approaching a tipping point, beyond which it will be impossible to prevent massive loss of life as a result of widespread famine across the country,” said Lowcock to the UN’s Security Council. “We are already seeing pockets of famine-like conditions, including cases where people are eating leaves.” Last year, the UN declared that Yemen had seen “the world’s worst cholera outbreak,” with a million suspected cases in December 2017 and 5,000 new cases being reported each day — over 2,300 lives have been lost. Even though Yemen has since reduced and recovered somewhat from the disease, the World Health Organization has reported that the country is about to face a third wave of cholera.

The fighting near the port of Hodeidah is making it nearly impossible to get any sort of aid to citizens. Understaffed and under-equipped health centres are noticing a spike in the amount of malnourished patients they come across. In August, Aslam’s health centre saw up to 99 cases of malnutrition, half of which were in the most severe stages. The UN is trying to raise more money and resources for the people of Yemen, but Lowcock claims that “humanitarian organizations simply cannot look after the needs of all 29 million Yemenis. That is untenable.”
You can donate to: Save The Children, Unicef, and Oxfam

The post Outside the Bubble: International News for the Week of October 1 appeared first on The McGill Daily.