That’s why this Sudbury women’s rights group is facing a strike

On the second anniversary of the day the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, there will be a global movement in over 30 cities, including an event in Sudbury.

The decision eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in America and sparked a global debate about the inaccessibility of reproductive health care.

Women’s Strike Sudbury is organizing a strike to take place on June 24 at Bell Park. The event will last from noon to 3 p.m. The organization was founded just over two weeks ago by Mia Valliere and Annie Blodgett. Valliere says it is designed to fill a gap in the women’s movement in Northern Ontario.

Vailiere says it was the anniversary that inspired her to start the organization. It’s “a day that I think the hearts of every woman, every ally, every person who has ever loved a woman stopped. I knew I had to be a part of it. And I knew there were people in my life who felt the same way.”

However, Valliere believes that the restriction of women’s rights is not just an American problem. It has also been the subject of fierce criticism in the Canadian House of Commons.

She points to Bill C-311, introduced in January 2023 by Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall, which encourages judges to consider physical or psychological harm to a pregnant victim as an aggravating circumstance in the criminal code. Although the MP stated that the law had nothing to do with abortion rights, it sparked a debate about abortion. The Liberals, NDP and several women’s groups concluded that the law was a veiled attack on abortion access.

According to the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, this was just one of at least 48 bills or motions by MPs opposing abortion rights that have been introduced in the Canadian Parliament since 1987.

Valliere says the strike is intended to draw attention to this ongoing fight for reproductive freedom and justice.

She encourages women and allies to attend the event. “A very wise professor once told me that change doesn’t happen by the powerful gathering in a room and saying, ‘Hey, maybe we did the wrong thing.’ Change happens because people demand it, and I truly believe that.”

“The biggest problem in Canada is not legislation, but access”

“You can’t pass a law that protects the right to abortion. In fact, that would be counterproductive. It would open the door to restrictions,” said Suzanne Zaccour, director of legal affairs at the National Association of Women and the Law.

She explains that the difference between Canada and the US lies in the different legal frameworks. “Canada is a country where there are no criminal restrictions on abortion. Abortion is never a criminal offense, and that is exactly the legal situation we want.”

She says the biggest obstacle to abortion is not legislation but access, pointing to cities further away from densely populated areas where access to services and adequate information is lacking.

According to the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada’s lists, there is only one abortion clinic in Sudbury: the Options Clinic at Health Sciences North.

But access to abortion is only half the problem, she explains. We also need “access to free contraception,” access to unbiased, science-based and feminist sex education, and “freedom from sexual violence that can force pregnancies and abortions.”