I’ll never understand how arrogant extremist religious people are, that they think they can dictate how non religious people live and plan their families and lawful death choices (MAID) of others.
What I find most offensive about those spewing anti women’s/girls’ rights, notably wanting us to have no control over our own bodies, is the number of men that think they have the right to control me, my body, my life choices, my thoughts and expression, just because they claim they believe in God when their actions prove they don’t. To me it’s abusive for men to think their thinking via their God gives them the right to destroy and or control my life.
If your religion demands that you are forced to be a baby incubator, and beneath and subservient to a man without rights, even if he is a rapist and or abusive to you and your kids, or you choose to live under biblical abuse, what makes you think you have the right to force other women and girls to live abused and without rights with less value than something unborn, not yet alive?
@vivian38.bsky.social:
We have to wonder how such a weirdo has continued to be elected. He’s a lifetime politician with zero real world job experience. 20 years to accomplish nothing for his constituents or Canada. He’s voted against everything from feeding kids to dental care for seniors. ##WomenAgainstPoilievre
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Ryan Brook, PhD. Chairman of the Boar @ryankbrook.bsky.social:
If you are a candidate in the coming election and you are anti-abortion just pack up your tent and go home. Real Canadians came to a different conclusion a long time ago.
Dale Smith @journo_dale:
How about new legislation to impart rights to the unborn?
Because that is backdoor legislation that they have supported throughout.
Kate Harrison @KatlynHarrison:
For those interested in facts as opposed to accusations on women’s rights, check P. 19 of the @CPC_HQ Platform: a Conservative government would “maintain the party’s 21-year-old policy … to not support any legislation to regulate abortion.” #cdnpoli
@Chasingharmony1:
They plan to grant personhood to the fetus in utero.
No abortion specific legislation is necessary.
This way, they can effectively remove the rights of pregnant women by granting them to the fetus.
Anne Drew @AnneDre27042271:
Fun fact: Pierre doesn’t have to “support legislation to regulate abortion” – instead he can give personhood to a fetus, further restrict access, & refuse to punish Conservative Premiers who don’t follow the health act.
Kate is playing with words – don’t fall for it.
@DarrylW92605905:
Conservatives cannot be trusted until Social Conservatives within the Party, lose their power!!Social Conservatives OWN the CPC. we see this because the Progressive Conservatives have ZERO say in anything. If PC’s had any say in the party platform, they’d be less cruel.
@caroltreardon:
The CPC campaign, for whatever reasons, has been laser focused on attracting the Manosphere vote. We’re talking Jordan Peterson. This demographic cherished by the CPC to the exclusion of women (+ seniors) has been crowing for months about women knowing their role.
It’s not just about abortion. It’s about 30-something men who expect to * own* a house in a housing crisis when others can’t pay their rent and become a single income household with a wife who does’t work and bears his children. That’s not a future I want for our young women.
It’s a life of absolute caveman raping hell for women and girls. When I was a young girl being raped regularly by married christian men, enabled by their wives, I was told I was not permitted to go to university because I was female. Verbotten! And, I would never be allowed to own my own home because only men are, or live my own life or own my own body because only Jesus and men have rights to my body and heart and soul. That’s sick hideous raping religion’s misogyny and abuse, and is why rapist Trump, Pee Pee and their evil MAGAt KKKLans are opposed to “woke.” Pee Pee can’t even tell us what woke is. Brainless little obedient Nazi, just following Harper’s orders.
Well, I said no to that raping religious hatred and propaganda. I went to college and university, worked two jobs (one of them full time) to pay my way though because my cruel family only sees boys as having any value. Why? Because of the nastiest propaganda book ever written by humans, the woman-hating bible.
I graduated. I worked like hell. I created and successfully operated my own business. I do not buy what I cannot afford – debt is expensive and controls us and our lives; debt is the biggest destroyer of freedom (not Trudeau or Carney). By avoiding debt, I am able to own my own home and pay my bills – man, mortgage and debt free.
I own my own body. It’s mine, it does not belong to any man. I chose not to bring children into this hideous world of raping humans destroying everything needed to sustain life on earth, including safe drinking water and air. That is my right, and needs to continue for all Canadian women and girls. It is also my choice to stay the hell away from raping churches/religions.
In my near 70 years experience as a human, I believe political parties like Harper’s hideous and cruel Reformacons, now led by his village idiot Pee Pee (not a party of progressive conservatives in the least), Harper’s even more hideous IDU and Trump/Musk’s super ugly raping pedophile-heavy Nazi party, want women to have no rights to force us into not only their birthing machines, also sex toys for men. Just gross. They are inhumane, criminal douche fuckers, especially their guru super woman hater, Jordan Peterson.
“All people” believe it or fucking not, includes women and girls!
Jeff Yang @originalsp.in:
Gov. DeWine just signed SB1, a law ending “DEI” in Ohio public higher ed.
Now that it’s law, U of Toledo just killed the following BA programs:
- Africana Studies
- Asian Studies
- Disability Studies
- Middle East Studies
- Philosophy
- Religious Studies
- Women’s/Gender Studies
And…
- Spanish
@zeeke55:
Trump said something similar. Remember??
Conservatives not trustworthy.
Sorry.
This is who Pee Pee and his anti women’s rights party of inhumane douche fuckers is, they can’t even smile realistically:
@paulparrazzilvr:
Not funding procedures is still anti abortion and a back door loop hole your ghouls have used for years. We’re on to you liars!
@LindsayKempFan:
Then why did Poilievre twist arms to get unprecedented unanimous CPC caucus support for a 2023 anti-choice private members bill? And why has CPC given majority-support for 8 anti-choice private members bills since 2007?
https://www.arcc-cdac.ca/media/anti-choice-mps-current.pdf
@StewartGreen81:
For those interested in facts instead of Harrison’s partisan rhetoric, the CPC is full of anti-choice MPs
https://www.arcc-cdac.ca/media/anti-choice-mps-current.pdf
deb2_debra:
Sorry don’t believe you! #WomenAgainstPoilievre Years of spewing lies has come back to bite your Party!!
@PeZzy:
Maybe check the section which allows a free vote on abortion. A free vote means a potential for new laws being passed. Also the Cons have tried to embed unborn rights into many bills which is a sneaky way to avoid explicitly stating anti-abortion laws.
Burt @bertaxennial:
The Republicans and Trump said that too right before they repealed Roe vs. Wade. Excuse me for not believing a single fucking thing that comes out of Pierres mouth.I’ve never yet heard him say anything true when he speaks his political talk, same as I’ve never heard Danielle Smith or Scott Moe tell the truth.
drjengunter Nov. 15, 2024:
Dear Canada,
The Conservative Party of Canada has forced birth policies. And their policies have veered more and more to the extreme since 2006. Since 2006 they have proposed 9 forced birth bills that have all been defeated. You are one bad election away from these bills reappearing and it seems they would have broad support within the Conservative Party.
In fact, Canada is one bad election away from every bad political thing that is happening in America.
I have a lot more to say on this, and will be writing about it on my Substack. But abortion is a human right, and when a political party is chomping at the bit to take away one right, there are more that will follow. Abortion is a canary in the coal mine.
Excellent clip of Justin Trudeau attacking misogynist Pissy Pants Poilievre on the matter.
kiss56:
This reel needs to be re-played regularly to remind Canadians that PP leads a party that includes anti-choice zealots!
cecilandskylar:
Those who vote for PP don’t realize they’re actually voting for extremists Leslyn Lewis, Arnold Viersen and Jamil Jivani, to name a few.
@DrJenGunter:
Here is a thread why “late term” abortion needs to be abandoned. I admit years ago I used to use it in my public writing because it seemed like it was a “common use” term that would help people understand.
Wrong.
But the idea of using “late term” for abortion is imprecise and essentially a way to move goal posts.
And those who LIE ABOUT ABORTION don’t get to control the language, the EXPERTS do.
Here is a post detailing appropriate abortion terminology https://drjengunter.com/2019/02/11/how-to-respond-to-a-question-about-late-term-abortion-a-procedure-that-doesnt-exist/
And this is what happens when we let language get imprecise. The words we use shape how we think and forced birthers know that, it’s why they have branded themselves as “pro life.” …
But they are forced birthers. If they cared for fetal life they would be aghast at the rate of maternal homicides, although not because they care about pregnant people but when a pregnant person dies the fetus usually does as well. https://wwno.org/post/homicide-leading-cause-pregnancy-deaths-louisiana
And they are forced birthers because they get at worked up at induction of labor at 25 weeks being called an abortion when it is if there are serious fetal anomalies and you are ending the pregnancy with no plans for resuscitation
The reality is 1.3% of abortions in the United States are at of after 21 weeks, about 8,000 procedures a year. The reason why and the exact gestational age is not tracked by the CDC so anyone saying that they know that data is spreading disinformation.
@ischemgeek:
I wish there was a better term for forced birther. One that fully grasped the inhumanity of what they believe.
Because it isn’t just they believe in forced birth.
It’s also that they believe children are a punishment. It’s also that they don’t believe women are fully people.
It’s also that they think someone (read: they) should be arbiters of morality. It’s also that they think sex is inherently wrong or nasty and that anyone (but especially women) who does it deserves to suffer. And that their offspring and family deserve to suffer. I could go on.
Like forc d birther is better than the Orwellian term “pro-life” but it really doesn’t capture the sheer enormity of the inhumanity underlying that philosophy.
Like I have spent a long time wondering and thinking about why being a forced birther type is such a good predictor of other forms of abusive and bigoted behavior lately for reasons and I think it’s just petty tyranny is inherently part of the philosophy.
84 Federal Candidates Given “Green Light” by Canadian Anti-Abortion Group, The group’s questionnaire includes “Are there any circumstances under which you believe a woman should have access to abortion?” by Canadian Anti-Hate Network, March 31, 2025
In the run-up to the April 28 federal election, Canadians are considering candidates as their potential representatives for the next term of Parliament.
While much of the media’s focus is on Liberal Party leader Mark Carney and Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, we are taking a look into the candidates, their voting records, and the policies they have publicly supported.
All of the four major parties—the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC), the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), the New Democratic Party, and the Bloc Québécois—have standing policies to keep access to abortion freely available in the country.
Opposed to this fact is an ecosystem of anti-abortion activists and lobbyists who want to abolish abortion and deny people medical care and reproductive rights.
One of the largest abortion abolition groups, Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), releases lists every election cycle of candidates it deems “supportable.” This designation is determined by candidates’ public statements, voting records, and responses to a questionnaire distributed by the organization.
Previous responses to the survey are considered, some of which date back to 2011. Others are more recent.
Based on these factors, CLC gave a “greenlight” to 84 candidates for federal office.
The list includes 50 candidates from the Conservative Party of Canada, 24 from the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), seven from the Christian Heritage Party, two from the United Party of Canada, and one from the Libertarian Party.
Not all candidates have responded to the CLC survey, but of those who did, 29 federal candidates responded “no” to the question of “Are there any circumstances under which you believe a woman should have access to abortion?”
Some versions of the survey from previous years include in the question a caveat that “Medical treatments to save the life of a mother and which result in the UNINTENDED death of her unborn child, are NOT abortions. Eg. in case of tubal pregnancy or cervical cancer.”
Even with the clarification, this would mean that medical procedures that have the intention of terminating a pregnancy would not be protected, nor would abortions for people who were the victims of rape and incest.
These 29 candidates include nine incumbents such as CPC candidate Damien Kurek, the incumbent for Battle River – Crowfoot, Alberta and Ted Falk, CPC incumbent for Provencher, Manitoba. (A complete list will appear at the bottom of the article.)
Also among the candidates that answered “no” to the question of whether there are circumstances in which a woman should have access to an abortion is Conservative Party candidate Cathay Wagantall, incumbent for Yorkton – Melville, Saskatchewan. First elected in 2015, Wagantall introduced Bill C-225 which would have amended the Criminal Code to create separate offences for injuring or killing a fetus when an offence is committed against a pregnant woman. The bill was criticized by abortion rights organizations, including the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC), who said that by establishing new “fetal rights,” the bill would “pose a threat to women’s constitutional rights and to abortion rights.”
The bill was defeated in its second reading.
In 2020 and 2023, Wagantall put forward Bills C-233 and C-311, respectively. Both bills were criticized by the ARCC as potentially infringing on reproductive rights and setting dangerous precedents regarding abortion access. Neither were passed into law.
CPC candidate Leslyn Lewis, incumbent for Haldimand—Norfolk, has been outspoken about her anti-abortion stance. She did not respond to the CLC’s survey on abortion but did receive a green light for her candidacy. She ran twice for the leadership of the Federal Conservative Party.
Running her leadership campaigns as an open social conservative has often resulted in Lewis being sidelined by the party as a response. Nonetheless, she came in third in the 2020 and 2022 CPC leadership races.
Lewis did not respond to a request for comment from the Canadian Anti-Hate Network by time of publication.
During her 2020 run, Lewis proposed policies that would include a ban on sex-selective abortion, protections against “coerced abortions,” support for pregnancy centres offering alternatives to abortion, and stopping foreign aid to groups that offer abortions.
Lewis also promised to repeal Bill C-16 which added discrimination against gender expression and gender identity to the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act. She justified this stance by telling Maclean’s that she was worried that people could be penalized for “incorrect speech.”
Another anti-abortion incumbent is CPC candidate Lianne Rood, for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, Ontario. Rood responded to the questionnaire in 2018, giving what the CLC referred to as “perfect answers” to their questions. Rood was the recipient of media attention after she made a video decrying biodegradable Tim Horton’s coffee lids as “woke.”
Rood did not respond to a request for comment from the Canadian Anti-Hate Network that included asking for a definition of the term.
There are several members of the LPC who previously identified as “pro-life” prior to 2013. When Justin Trudeau assumed the leadership in 2013, supporting access to abortion became a requirement of running for the Liberals the following year. The Liberal Party MPs that had previously identified as “pro-life” include MPs Filomena Tassi, John McKay, and Kevin Lamoureux, all of whom reportedly agreed to vote against any policy that would seek to regulate abortion. McKay and Tassi are not seeking reelection in 2025, while Lamoureux is campaigning for Winnipeg North.
CAHN attempted to reach all candidates included on the CLC’s list of approved federal candidates. The responses that were received are included in the complete list below:
Candidates who, according to the CLC, answered no the question of “Are there any circumstances under which you believe a woman should have access to abortion?” are highlighted in bold.
- Cheryl Gallant, Algonquin – Renfrew – Pembroke, Conservative Party of Canada (incumbent)
- Carlos Suarez Rubio, Abbotsford – South Langley, People’s Party of Canada
- Damien Kurek, Battle River – Crowfoot, Conservative Party of Canada (incumbent)
- Jonathan Bridges, Battle River – Crowfoot, People’s Party of Canada
- Rosemarie Falk, Battlefords – Lloydminster – Meadow Lake, Conservative Party of Canada (incumbent)
- Ann Gillies, Bruce – Grey – Owen Sound, United Party of Canada
- Charles Zach, Burlington North – Milton West, People’s Party of Canada — “I reaffirm – that I am pro-life. Abortion at any stage of an unborn babies gestation is murder, genocide and amoral. Abortion is a curse on our nation and our country is weaker for it. Abortion is not health care. Abortion is not an exclusive woman’s issue. No one has the right to arbitrarily murder another human – especially a hapless human baby still in the mother’s womb that has been unjustly stripped of its Constitutional and God given inalienable human right to live and dehumanized to justify the sin.”
- Tom Kmiec, Calgary Shepard, Conservative Party of Canada (incumbent)
- Todd Doherty, Cariboo – Prince George Conservative (incumbent)
- Kelly Block, Carlton Trail – Eagle Creek, Conservative (incumbent)
- Mark Strahl, Chilliwack – Hope, Conservative (incumbent)
- Tamara Jansen, Cloverdale – Langley City, Conservative (incumbent)
- Michelle Lindsay, Dartmouth – Cole Harbour, People’s Party of Canada — “ There are circumstances where a medical procedure to end the pregnancy may be required.”
- Joe Tay, Don Valley North, Conservative
- David John Bohonos, Edmonton Centre, Christian Heritage — “I am against the hate that is directed against pregnant women and their babies, they need much more love, care, support, assistance, guidance and reassurance to choose well, to choose life. I am also against the hate directed toward vulnerable people exemplified by the alarming increasing execution of M.A.I.D.:
- Brent Kinzel, Edmonton West, People’s Party of Canada — “Every human being, male and female, has equal rights from the moment of conception until natural death. Life is a fundamental right that should be protected at all stages, regardless of circumstances. Termination of life due to inconvenience or as means of birth control disregard the inherent dignity and worth of the unborn . Each life, no matter how small or vulnerable has value and potential. Society should promote compassionate alternatives, such as adoption and support for mothers with difficult situations, rather than normalizing the destruction of innocent life. There is no abortion law that truly uphold the rights of both the mother and a child and there should be policies in place that affirm the protection of life at all stages.”
- Andrew Lawton, Elgin – St. Thomas – London South, Conservative
- Andy D’Andrea, Etobicoke North, People’s Party of Canada
- Dan Muys, Flamborough – Glanbrook – Brant North, Conservative (incumbent)
- Rob Moore, Fundy Royal, Conservative (incumbent)
- Christopher Warkentin, Grande Prairie, Conservative (incumbent)
- Leslyn Lewis, Haldimand – Norfolk, Conservative (incumbent)
- Jim Enos, Hamilton West – Ancaster – Dundas, Christian Heritage
- Ben Lobb, Huron – Bruce, Conservative (incumbent)
- Greg Kung, Kanata, Conservative
- Doug Treleavin, Kitchener – Conestoga, Conservative
- Kevin Dupuis, Kitchener – Conestoga, People’s Party of Canada
- Ruth Fontaine, La Prairie – Atateken, People’s Party of Canada
- Shannon Stubbs, Lakeland, Conservative (incumbent)
- Tako van Popta, Langley Township – Fraser Heights, Conservative (incumbent)
- Michael Lake, Leduc – Wetaskiwin, Conservative (incumbent)
- Michael Barrett, Leeds – Grenville – Thousand Islands – Rideau Lakes, Conservative (incumbent)
- Rachael Thomas, Lethbridge, Conservative (incumbent)
- Stephen Gallant, London Centre, Conservative
- Adam Benni, London West, Conservative
- Jacques Boudreau, London West, Libertarian
- Lionel Loganathan, Markham – Thornhill, Conservative
- Glen Motz, Medicine Hat – Cardston – Warner, Conservative (incumbent)
- Lianne Rood, Middlesex – London, Conservative (incumbent)
- Cynthia Ann Workman, Middlesex – London, People’s Party of Canada — “I identify as Pro-Life.”
- Walter Hofman, Milton East – Halton Hills South, People’s Party of Canada
- Chey Craik, Moose Jaw – Lake Centre – Lanigan, People’s Party of Canada
- Peter Taras, Niagara South, People’s Party of Canada
- Dean Allison, Niagara West, Conservative (incumbent)
- Aaron Gunn, North Island – Powell River, Conservative
- Paul Macknight, North Island – Powell River, People’s Party of Canada
- Philip Lawrence, Northumberland – Clarke, Conservative (incumbent)
- Henry Karabela, Oakville East, People’s Party of Canada
- Thomas Androvic, Oshawa, People’s Party of Canada
- Marie-Chantal Leriche, Ottawa Centre, Christian Heritage
- Alex Perrier, Ottawa South, Christian Heritage
- Glen Armstrong, Ottawa West – Nepean, People’s Party of Canada
- Sean Mulligan, Ottawa West – Nepean, Christian Heritage
- Dane Lloyd, Parkland, Conservative (incumbent)
- Jason Lavigne, Parkland, People’s Party of Canada — “I do describe myself as pro-life, as I believe in the intrinsic value of unborn life. However, the suggestion that I oppose any medical procedure under all circumstances is inaccurate. In rare but tragic situations, such as when the mother’s life is at serious risk, when the viability of the baby is no longer possible, or in cases of natural pregnancy loss like stillbirth or miscarriage, I support ensuring the mother receives the necessary care.”
- Kevin Schulthies, Parkland, Christian Heritage
- Arnold Viersen, Peace River – Westlock, Conservative (incumbent)
- Wayne Baker, Perth – Wellington, People’s Party of Canada
- Marc Dalton, Pitt Meadows – Maple Ridge, Conservative (incumbent)
- Blaine Calkins, Ponoka – Didsbury, Conservative (incumbent)
- Grant Abraham, Ponoka – Didsbury, United Party of Canada
- Deborah Perrier, Prescott – Russell – Cumberland, People’s Party of Canada — “I believe that every life is a sacred gift from God, from conception, to natural death, regardless of the circumstances of conception, and deserving of protection ~ As a Christian, I stand firmly for pro-life policies that defend the unborn and support adoption as a loving, compassionate, life-affirming alternative choice.WTF! Pro human trafficking? Disgusting. Adoption is cruel and harmful and is big profit-making for kid trafficking agencies!I would love to see every abortion clinic closed down, and in their place, adoption clinics with pre and peri-natal supports for the mothers. My faith teaches that all human life is created in the image of God Humans are the nastiest most harmful most abusive polluting destructive ugly species on earth, which in my view, makes your God hideous harmful abusive and ugly too, if your faith is true. I don’t want to have anything do to with you and your religion worshipping abuse of women and girls, and human trafficking kids in the name of God. FFSand must be cherished and protected and I am fiercely committed to pro-life policies that uphold the dignity of both mother and child.
“I strongly believe the ONLY time the medical procedure of aborting a child should be allowed, is in the event of an ectopic pregnancy, which usually happens between the 4th and 12th weeks of pregnancy. Other than that… absolutely not.” - Bob Zimmer, Prince George – Peace River – Northern Rockies, Conservative (Incumbent)
- Ted Falk, Provencher, Conservative (Incumbent)
- Noel Gautron, Provencher, People’s Party of Canada
- Burton Bailey, Red Deer, Conservative
- Michael Kram, Regina – Wascana, Conservative (Incumbent)
- Vincent Ho, Richmond Hill South, Conservative
- John Williamson, Saint John – St. Croix, Conservative (Incumbent)
- Manon Chevalier, Saint-Laurent, People’s Party of Canada
- James Bezan, Selkirk – Interlake – Eastman, Conservative (Incumbent)
- Byron Gryba, Selkirk – Interlake – Eastman, People’s Party of Canada — “Given that Canada is one of only a handful of nations for which abortions are permitted until the moment of birth, I believe there should be ‘a’ law rather than no law. Saving more life is better than saving less lives. Saving the mother’s life (by termination the baby) is a necessary protection for allowance of abortion.”
- Garnett Genuis, Sherwood Park – Fort Saskatchewan, Conservative (Incumbent)
- Jay Sobel, Sherwood Park – Fort Saskatchewan, People’s Party of Canada
- Michael Cooper, St. Albert – Sturgeon River, Conservative (Incumbent)
- Jeff Willerton, St. Albert – Sturgeon River, Christian Heritage
- Jeremy Patzer, Swift Current – Grasslands – Kindersley, Conservative (Incumbent)
- Richard Bragdon, Tobique – Mactaquac, Conservative (Incumbent)
- Lita Cabal, Vancouver East, Conservative — “I still stand on these positions as I believe in the sanctity of life and value of the life itself, based on my values both cultural and spiritual.”
- Scott Anderson, Vernon – Lake Country – Monashee, Conservative
- David Mohr, Victoria, People’s Party of Canada — “I am pro-life. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I vote in line with their beliefs when allowed to vote my conscience.”
- Steve Yamada, Whitby, Conservative
- Jacob Mantle, York – Durham, Conservative
- Cathay Wagantall , Yorkton – Melville, Conservative (Incumbent)
CAHN attempted to contact all the candidates and incumbents listed above.
It royally pisses me off when con parties, federally and provincially, year after year after year, violate my privacy rights calling my unlisted number, harass me, try to pressure me into donating and or voting for them and their misogynistic, racist, woke-phobic, fair-phobic, hate loving, transphobic, gayphobic, lovephobic, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, anti-Indigenous, pro-genocide, anti-water, anti-health, anti-environment, pro-polluter parties. Never will I vote for their fascist hateful evil. Never.
Again, this election, I’ve been hit with calls, violating my privacy, asking for money and to vote for CPC, Nazi party of hate. How dare they! The NDP, Liberal and Greens did not. Again and again they called, using different numbers to call from. My phone number is unlisted which costs extra in monthly fees, from the day I first got it – no con politico or their staff has offered to pay for my phone bills in exchange for them using my phone to harass me, and violating my rights.
Encana/Ovintiv was the worst abuser of my privacy rights so far, followed by Danielle Smith’s Wildrose party, now pathetic liar woman-hating Pee Pee Poilievre Party. I filed a complaint with the privacy commissioner, she ruled Encana had indeed violated my rights, by distributing my private personal information to others. Did the illegal aquifer frac’er give con politicos my unlisted number?
Smith and her law-violating Canada-hating bunch, violated my unlisted number often demanding money and votes. No matter how many times I respectfully told them I’d never vote for them or give them money, and asked them to remove my number from their database, they kept calling and harassing me. Ugly cruel Smith and her vile inhumane Wildrose Libertarian gang taught me to never answer or respond to any number that appears to be from a con party. This has been my policy for years now, especially as in my direct experience, Christian politicians behave hideously and are often abusive when told “No, thank you.”
Land of the flee, Winnipeg-born physician moving back to Canada after ‘rank misogyny’ drives devolution of women’s rights by Jen Zoratti,
In 1995, Dr. Jen Gunter arrived in Kansas.
The Winnipeg-born-and-raised gynecologist was fresh out of her OB/GYN training at the University of Western Ontario, having completed medical school at the University of Manitoba, and landing in the Midwest was like a reverse Wizard of Oz.
“I was fully unprepared for the culture shock of moving to the United States,” says Gunter, now 58, over the phone from her home in San Francisco. “I thought it would be a lot more like Canada, more open and like ‘Hey, live and let live.’
Gunter was unprepared for the fact that when she moved to Kansas, she would be one of only a handful of doctors who were performing abortions.
“No one talked about it, even in OB/GYN departments. It was like, ‘Oh, send them to Jennifer.’ I was stunned that, here I was, this new graduate from a Canadian program, dealing with people who are 20 weeks (pregnant) with ruptured membranes who need an abortion because there isn’t anybody else on the faculty who can do that.
“It feels like things were, from a reproductive rights standpoint, just barely hanging on — and it didn’t take much to undo it.”
Gunter has had a front-row seat to the erosion of those tenuous reproductive rights in America, having built her life and career in the United States. She moved to the Bay Area and established her clinical practice, as well as a whole additional career as “the Internet’s OB/GYN,” battling medical misinformation peddled by “wellness” hucksters, the most famous being Goop, the empire built out of jade yoni eggs by actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
She has authored several books — The Preemie Primer (2010), The Vagina Bible (2019), The Menopause Manifesto (2021) and last year’s Blood: The Science, Medicine and Mythology of Menstruation — and writes the popular Vajenda newsletter on Substack, which is a continuation of her work advocating for women’s health and tackling medical misinformation, particularly around menopause.
But after 30 years in America, Gunter is moving back to Canada.
Returning to her homeland was always her plan, she says, and while it seems as if her timeline has been moved up owing to recent events in the U.S.,
“I have been preaching to everybody who will listen where we’re headed,” she says. “The temperature has been rising for this if you’re willing to look at the signs.”
The overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022; more and more states passing ever-restrictive abortion laws or banning them completely; the increasing criminalization of miscarriage (which is common: 10 to 20 per cent of known pregnancies end in loss and that number might be higher, since it can occur before people know they are pregnant) — all big neon signs.
“Before decriminalized abortion in Canada, nobody was getting arrested over having a miscarriage, you know what I mean?” she says.
“This whole move to penalize people is born from rank misogyny, but this is how you control people. You create fear. And when you create fear and you control people, it’s harder to have political opposition.”
Shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump was re-elected in November, Gunter sat on a panel hosted by ScienceUpFirst, an initiative combating online misinformation, in Calgary. Of course, people asked her about the political climate in the U.S.
“I kept telling them, ‘You are one bad election away from fascism,’” Gunter says. “I don’t think people realize how fragile things are. People have busy lives, they’re stretched thin, they have kids to pick up, and then all of a sudden, they look up and they see that, wait a minute, what’s happened?”
The Trump administration is now dismantling research funding, scrapping grants and cutting tens of thousands of jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services, which affects agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control, National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.
“We’re going to lose everything. Everything. We’ve had a second death from measles reported today (Sunday),” Gunter says, adding that the U.S. is no longer tracking infectious diseases or foodborne illnesses.
“We’re going to see more and more criminalization for miscarriages. Women who are primarily lower income will be disproportionately affected. This is all a way to create a larger class of people who have fewer and fewer resources.
“I think that what we’re looking at is not only the devastating effect on reproductive health, but because women are more vulnerable in society versus men because they earn less, they are more victimized by domestic violence, they’re the ones who end up doing childcare — anything that harms society, women are almost certainly going to be unequally bearing the burden. So it’s kind of like women are going to be punished twice.”
Cons, whether USA Repuglican or Harper’s ReformaCon Party (led by snivelling misogynistic creepy liar Pee Pee), hate women, hate women having rights and are in Canada sneakily trying to take them away by back doors such as taken rights away from the woman/girl and giving them to the unborn – one such evil trick is forced birthing.
On March 8, International Women’s Day, Gunter met with former prime minister Justin Trudeau, and was struck by the many advances Canada has made with respect to reproductive health, including the expansion of access to medication abortion.
Gunter says Canada is at an inflection point as the country heads into an election later this month.
“We have this possibility to head in one really amazing direction and continue to be a world leader. Canada is one of the few countries, I believe, that has no abortion law. It’s not illegal, it’s not legal, it’s just a medical procedure.”
She stresses that these gains can be lost and, as evidenced by the situation in the U.S., lost quickly.
“What I want to say to Canadian women is: abortion is the canary in the coal mine. If people are floating private member bills, that means they’ve been thinking about it for decades, that this is a way to get a foothold in,” she says, in reference to Conservative Leader Pierre Pollievre’s track record of supporting anti-choice private members’ bills.
“And you should also think the same about anti-trans speech. These two things really are canaries in the coal mine.”
Gunter hopes she can bring her expertise and experience to Health Canada or work with the government in some capacity when she moves back.
“I want to try to move beyond helping an individual in the office to trying to help all Canadians,” she says.
But while she’s moving back to Canada, she will not be moving back to Winnipeg. She’ll be sticking to the West Coast.
“Honestly, I love Winnipeg. But I’ve lived on the ocean now for almost 20 years and I just need the ocean,” she says. “And also, my husband was like, ‘Happy to move but not going to go somewhere super cold.’”
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Above from: https://www.arcc-cdac.ca/media/anti-choice-mps-current.pdf
“Personhood” is Coming, Your medical care and rights are at risk by Dr. Jen Gunter, Jan 31, 2025
Guy Smallman / Getty Images
Everyone needs to prepare for the attempt and potential success of the Trump administration to implement “personhood.”
The writing is on the wall in flashing neon, so we need to talk about it.
What is Personhood?
Personhood, from a forced birth perspective, means every fertilized egg, even before implantation, should be treated as a person. Consequently, abortion–or even anything preventing implantation– should be treated as murder.
Whether forced birthers really believe this or if it’s simply a weapon of control or a way to make money is an entirely different matter. For example, this week, during Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s confirmation hearing for Secretary of Health and Human Services (I just threw up in my mouth thinking of the potential carnage that awaits us if he is confirmed), we heard how when he was running for president, he was vehemently pro-choice, but now that he is trying to get confirmed as a Trump appointee, he believes that “every abortion is a tragedy.” Look, he is salivating about the money to be made with Make America Health Again supplements and merch and by making it easier to sue vaccine manufacturers, so he’s happy to lick some boots.
I know that part about Kennedy making money from MAHA™ supplements and merch sounds like a joke I made up, but it’s not. In December, Kennedy apparently transferred ownership of a trademark application for Make American Healthy Again and MAHA to an LLC managed by Del Bigtree, the CEO of an anti-vaccination group and producer of the film “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.” No, really. The trademark could be used for supplements, compounded medications, vaccine detox programs, or maybe even MAHA onesies. After all, the Children’s Health Defense, an anti-science propaganda organization that Kennedy recently chaired, sells anti-vaccine onesies. Senator Bernie Sanders grilled him about this with a photo of the merchandise, and now the website sells them with the discount code “Bernie.”
We are in the most fucking dystopian timeline.
Why Do I Think Personhood Is Coming?
Because they told us in black and white in Project 2025. Repeatedly.And Piss Pants Pierre will copy everything the orange Nazis do, if he wins the election, using not withstanding clause whenever he feels like it, legal or not.
For anyone still clinging to the idea that Project 2025 is a distinct entity from Trump, CNN looked at 53 executive orders and actions from Trump’s first week and found that “more than two-thirds – 36 – evoke proposals outlined in “Mandate for Leadership,” Project 2025’s 922-page blueprint for the next Republican president.”
Project 2025 is filled with personhood language, such as, “Abortion pills pose the single greatest threat to unborn children in a post-Roe world.” Regarding mifepristone, “The FDA is statutorily charged with guaranteeing the safety and efficacy of drugs and therefore should withdraw this drug that is proven to be dangerous to women and by definition fatally unsafe for unborn children.” (Note: that last sentence is a lie. It is very safe, even safer than Viagra.) Several sections use the term “person” or “patients” to describe a fertilized egg/embryo/fetus, like this one:
A barrage of executive orders these past two weeks has been especially harmful for transgender and nonbinary people. To comply with the executive order from January 20 that is supposed to be about “defending women from gender ideology extremism,” the CDC removed the pages for a document known as the “Medical Eligibility Requirement for Contraception,” which was an invaluable repository of information about contraception efficacy and safety. They also gutted the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health website. This is apparently because everything with the word “gender” has been flagged for removal, which ranges from standard warnings about gender discrimination to crucial data about HIV surveillance. As I predicted in my previous post, they will comb through everything and remove what doesn’t comply with Project 2025.
Which leads to personhood.
The executive order “defending women” that is being acted upon as we speak (ironically removing crucial information for providing health care for women), includes personhood language:
Female’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell. ‘Male’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.
Trump’s Project 2025 told us they want personhood. They are making good on other promises, so it’s only a matter of time before they move to personhood. It would not surprise me if the documents that have been pulled offline are also being rewritten to suit this purpose, for example, reclassifying IUDs as abortifacients.
What Does Personhood Mean?
Really bad shit.
Personhood, or the way it is interpreted by the evangelical fascists in power, means a fertilized egg has more rights than a living, breathing, pregnant person. It reduces people with a uterus to incubator status. In the United States, if someone broke into your home and were shooting at you, killing them in self-defense would be legal. After all, they are invading your home and actively trying to kill you. With personhood, if you are pregnant and pre-viability but have a severe infection and need delivery, meaning the pregnancy is effectively trying to kill you, you do not get to protect yourself against that threat.
We know this because interpreting the legislation in states where abortion is illegal but with a medically nonsensical “life of the mother” exemption is impossible. Who decides when the life of the mother is at risk? In medicine, we prefer to intervene to prevent critical illness, but when abortion is illegal, AND the judicial system is frothing at the mouth to charge those involved (back to control), it’s a different story. I started my OB/GYN training in 1990 and spent a lot of time with doctors in Canada who knew the history all too well of when abortion was illegal. No one was concerned about helping a woman who needed an abortion because she was sick.
Why Do I Think Personhood Is Coming? Because they told us in black and white. Repeatedly.
The Obvious Ramifications of Personhood
The Turnaway Study tells us that when women are denied an abortion, they are four times more likely to live in poverty, more likely to be tied to an abusive partner, and more likely to experience serious complications in pregnancy, like preeclampsia or even in pregnancy.
Given the alarming maternal mortality in the United States and the extreme safety of abortion, it is always safer to have an abortion than to be pregnant. Whether we can count on maternal mortality reporting going forward is an entirely different matter.
Those with wanted pregnancies will also suffer. There will be no state to fly to for someone with a viable pregnancy with a serious complication that is best treated with abortion (although it’s important to acknowledge that many women are too sick to leave for care or can’t afford it). I have personally saved lives doing abortions for women with infections or catastrophic bleeding but who still have fetal cardiac activity. We are already seeing the consequences at the state level, so we don’t need to imagine what it will be like; we know.
In Texas, at least three women, and in Georgia, at least two have died because they were denied appropriate care for miscarriage/pregnancy complications.
People sometimes wonder why doctors can’t just do the abortion and risk the consequences. When someone is sick, we need an anesthesiologist, an OR nurse, and an OR tech just to do the procedure. There are also recovery room nurses, ICU nurses, lab technicians, central supply, and scheduling. Even if everyone involved with the care was pro-choice and willing to look the other way, what if a forced birther hears about it? It isn’t a stretch that reporting a suspected abortion will become an executive order; after all, federal workers have been told they need to report on suspected DEI programs or hires or risk “adverse consequences.” Regardless, if abortion is illegal, most hospital administrators wouldn’t allow the procedure. It isn’t a stretch that Medicaid or Medicare funds could be withheld from hospitals suspected of doing abortions. And yeah, I said suspected because that creates the most chaos and will lead to more delays. How many people will need to look at an ultrasound to confirm a fetus has no cardiac activity before we will even be able to treat people who are bleeding or have an infection and have a missed abortion or a fetal demise?
Chaos and confusion here are good because the worse the care that women receive, the better for Trump. Being sick affects the ability to work, and the goal is to have more women in poverty.
With personhood, we can count on the federal government to criminally prosecute anyone involved. The state of Louisiana has just charged Dr. Margaret Carpenter and her practice, Nightingale Medical, with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducting drugs. This is the first time a doctor has been charged with a felony for providing medication abortion. New York has a shield law, which protects Dr. Carpenter, but if abortion becomes illegal on a federal level, then a state shield law will offer no protection. If the shield law is challenged and goes to the supremely woman-hating catholic church infested and deeply corrupt and bribe takingSupreme Court, it could be over turned. If Louisiana is willing to file criminal charges for abortion, so will a Project 2025 run “Justice” Department.
Medical malpractice doesn’t cover criminal litigation, so doctors and anyone working for the practice will go bankrupt defending themselves. Whether they would even get a fair trial is an entirely different matter.
Criminalization of Pregnancy Complications and Substance Use During Pregnancy
If someone shows up in the emergency room bleeding heavily with a miscarriage and isn’t “sad enough” or is vaguely ambivalent about being pregnant, they could be reported for a suspected home abortion. In the year after Roe fell, more than 200 women were prosecuted after pregnancy loss, abortion, or birth in the United States. This is where personhood hits another layer of hell. In 2019, Lauren Smith delivered her baby Audrey in South Carolina. Lauren used cannabis during pregnancy to treat nausea, and she and her baby tested positive at delivery, despite the hospital not having permission to do the tests. Her baby was apprehended by the state and six months later Audrey was arrested and charged with felony child neglect. When PBS reported on her case in late 2024 she had been waiting five years for her trial and faces up to 10 years in prison. Her daughter has been living with her grandmother (yes, she has not has custody of her baby for five years). She has struggled to find work because she can’t pass a background check.And yet our crooked election law violating Pierre Poilievre, with shady happenings in his closet, is raking in massive salary, expenses, staff, free housing and fancy chef, etc, and pension, all on the backs of hard working Canadian taxpayers, refuses to get security clearance
Delayed Cancer Care During a Wanted Pregnancy.
When pregnancy loss is criminalized, that means chemotherapy and radiation, both therapies that can harm a developing fetus, will almost certainly halt. This isn’t me being an abortion hysteric; this is already happening in states where abortion is illegal. Cancer affects about 1 in 1000 pregnancies, and every month that cancer therapy is delayed, the risk of dying increases by 13%.
Inability to Access or Restricted Access to Misoprostol
When there is severe bleeding after a delivery, we often use the drug misoprostol, which can also be used for medication abortions. Imagine a world where it’s locked up like opioids because the law requires it or because hospitals can’t risk it being stolen, and instead of the medication being available in about 30 seconds on a hemorrhage cart, it could take 7 or 8 minutes, or more, and a lot of badness can happen in a few minutes with uncontrolled bleeding from a uterus. This isn’t some far-fetched idea, because Louisiana passed a law in 2024 reclassifying misoprostol as a dangerous controlled substance and now hospitals are locking it up.
Or perhaps someone has an incomplete abortion of a wanted pregnancy, and has been prescribed misoprostol to complete the abortion. Pharmacies may refuse to dispense it, because how do they know it’s not for an abortion? They don’t want to hassle of being reported. This happened in 2022 after Roe fell, but the Federal Government stepped in and reminded pharmacies they were in danger of violating civil rights. The Trump/2025 administration is not concerned about your civil rights.They just want to rape us without consequence The consequences here are more women will need surgical procedures for an incomplete abortion or will just suffer with far more protracted duration of bleeding, increasing their risk of complications.
Protecting the Potential Incubator from “Harmful” Medications
Perhaps you are 46 years old woman with rheumatoid arthritis and have been prescribed methotrexate, which has previously been used for medical abortions but is no longer in use for that reason. You don’t care because this medication treats your rheumatoid arthritis, and you are a grown-ass woman who knows how not to get pregnant. Heck, maybe you don’t have sex with men. After Roe fell there were reports of pharmacies refusing to fill methotrexate, and it’s not a stretch to think this could be extended to any *potentially* embryotoxic medication. After all, you could just be a crafty woman who is deep in a multi-year elaborate ruse to convince your doctor that you have an autoimmune condition so you can be prescribed an embryotoxic medication for a clandestine medical abortion that you may one day need (and yes, this is how they think women think).
Say Goodbye to Birth Control
This may take some time, but then again given the shit show, who knows? Team Project 2025 have stated they have contraception in their crosshairs, and one lesson from these past two weeks that felt like two years is that we should take them at their word. It’s only a matter of time before the administration trots out the lie that birth control pills and IUDs can prevent a fertilized embryo from attaching. No evidence supports that this effect exists, but the truth didn’t work the last time contraception was in front of the catholic corruptedSupreme Court, which ruled that believing a medication was an abortifacient was proof enough of the claim. If anyone is counting on a hormonal IUD or a birth control pill to manage their heavy bleeding, hot flashes, or PMDD symptoms in menopause, too bad!
Say Goodbye to hormonal IUDs for Menopause
But wait, if I can’t get pregnant, why would they care? It is highly likely that the manufacturers who make these products will not want to continue selling them in the United States if they are reclassified as abortifacients. One, because the market for their use will be so low, and two, they don’t want to risk litigation if someone uses an IUD for contraception.
Women’s Health Research and Medical Care Will Be Devastated.
The NIH Office of Women’s Research is largely offline, so that’s not exactly a good sign.
New drugs may have unknown embryotoxic effects, so women may not be eligible for clinical trials, which could limit our knowledge about medications and our ability to treat countless medical conditions. Why would a pharmaceutical company want to include women in a study if they could get pregnant while taking their new medication and had a miscarriage? Whether it’s due to the new medication or not would likely be immaterial. In this situation, if a new drug gets approved, we will know less about its effects on women or it may not even be approved for women. If a drug isn’t FDA-approved for women, good luck getting the holy trifecta of a doctor to prescribe it, a pharmacist to dispense it, and an insurance company to pay for it.
Being an Women’s Health Cassandra
In Greek mythology, Cassandra was fated to give true prophecies that were never believed. I feel this in my bones.
Perhaps you are thinking, Jen, you are way too apocalyptic here. I’ve been been warning people since 1998 that women would die if abortions were banned and we were left to navigate a useless “life of the mother exemption,” and yet here we are. In 1998, I was in the position of pleading with a state legislator who knew fuck all about pregnancy or abortion in order to get permission to do a “life of the mother” abortion.
When Savita Halappanavar died in 2012 because she needed an abortion that she couldn’t get, I kept reminding people it could happen here. I’ve done plenty of abortions for people with serious infections, and her death was preventable.
I’ve been writing about abortion since I started blogging and even wrote about my 1998 experience in the New York Times in 2019 (gift link). At that time it never occurred to me that I could have been arrested because I had received his “permission” to help my patient. If that same scenario were to happen today, his assurances would not be enough.
We’re squarely in “the cruelty is the point” territory, and it’s all be sadly predictable.
What Can We Do Now?
Chaos is the goal and you can’t possible focus on every awful thing. Pick one or two issues and try to get as informed as possible and keep talking about them. For example, the environment, health care, gender equality, and immigration. I will do my best to keep you updated on health care, especially as it pertains to women.
The impact of propaganda is real, and not everyone in your circle may be as informed as you, so give them a good place to turn. The truth matters, commit to spreading it.
If you are still on Twitter (I’m not calling it by it’s stupid name), get off. You are only helping Musk, who is an agent of chaos. Stop posting there! It’s a dead site anyway.And, get off Facebook, META, Instagram too.
Block people on social media who are willfully spreading disinformation.And do not donate to misogynistic anti health, anti environment politicians, like Piss Pants Harper Poilievre et al.
If you use a period app and if you were pregnant and would want an abortion, understand with that in may cases your data can be used against you. Here is some information to consider about privacy (from Consumer Reports). If people are interested in hearing more about this, I can put up a post.
Harass your Senators and Representatives.
Protect people who need protection.
Isabelle Lincourt Feb 1:
I am glad I live in Canada because from my point of view, Margaret Atwood dystopia is coming true.
Catriona Muir Feb 2:
I also live in Canada. Don’t kid yourself, we could go the same way if ultraconservatives get into power in the next election. We are certainly swinging that way.
Isabelle Lincourt Feb 2:
Well, maybe I am still living in denial, I hope it will not be the case. Women’s rights are precarious, always, and with them minority’s too.
Catriona Muir Mar 9:
Absolutely – it’s why we have to get out and vote. Vote for the party/candidate that best supports women’s rights. All women.
If only things had turned out this way:
2013: Raul Fernado Zulea cartoon of Eve escaping God and Adam (patriarchy) in the garden of Eden (hell)
Refer also to:
