Explaining Abortion Policy Developments in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island

Abstract

The landscape of abortion access in Canada has undergone major changes in the last two years, especially in the Maritime provinces. Long heralded as the worst provinces in Canada in which to find oneself in need of an abortion, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick represent holdouts to the creation of substantive abortion access in Canada: no services have been available on Prince Edward Island since 1982, while New Brunswick, in response to the decriminalization of abortion in 1988, created onerous restrictions on the circumstances in which the procedure could be accessed under medicare. These barriers to access were so longstanding that they seemed to be a permanent feature of access in Canada. That is, until, in a few short years, virtually all of these barriers were lifted. Using the multiple streams approach (MSA), this article attempts to explain why these changes came about when they did, and how they were able to take effect so rapidly.

Explaining Feminist Movement Impact: Provincial Abortion Policies in the Wake of Decriminalization, 1988–2018

“…How did groups opposed to abortion foster alliances with Liberal and NDP MPPs in Ontario? Although social traditionalism features in discussions of abortion politics in the Maritime provinces (Ackerman, 2017; Johnstone, 2018b: 767–68), this phenomenon has received less attention in studies of other regions.…”

“…Research to date focuses close attention on contestation at the federal level (Haussman, 2005;Haussman and Mills, 2012;Overby et al, 1998;Sethna and Hewitt, 2009;Stettner, 2013;Wells, 2020), the impact of the federal/provincial division of powers (Downie and Nassar, 2007;Erdman, 2007;Johnstone and Macfarlane, 2015;Palley, 2006;White, 2013) and the dynamics of anti-abortion activism (Cuneo, 1989;Saurette and Gordon, 2015). Existing studies of subnational abortion politics do not compare jurisdictions where violent attacks occurred, and they address theories other than those developed in the feminist policy literature (for example, Ackerman, 2017;Farid, 1997;Johnstone, 2018aJohnstone, , 2018b.…”

Student Encounters with a Campus Crisis Pregnancy Centre: Choice, Reproductive Justice and Sexual and Reproductive Health Supports

“…While the rights of those seeking care were ultimately upheld, the debate over the bill demonstrates the contentious nature of abortion in the province and wider region. Within Canada, abortion has been less available and more politicized in Atlantic Canada than elsewhere, with Nova Scotia having a less combative and restrictive environment for care than its Atlantic neighbours New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island (Ackerman & Stettner 2019;Johnstone 2014Johnstone , 2018. For decades after abortion laws changed in Canada, there was no access to abortions in Prince Edward Island (McQuarrie, MacDonald and Chambers 2014); on-island abortions have only been available since 2017.…”

Enacting Feminist Methodologies in Research Toward Reproductive Justice

“…The context in which this research occurred was, and remains, politically charged around issues of reproductive care. In New Brunswick, the retrenchment of reproductive and related healthcare has resulted in struggles over access to such healthcare in the region (Johnstone, 2018; Kirby, 2018; LeBlanc & Kornelson, 2015). This politicized reproductive healthcare landscape includes debates around (lack of) access to abortion and midwifery care, unattended home birth (free birth), and difficulties navigating obstetricians, nurses, and other care providers.…”