Another semester over

The 2nd semester of SRR has officially come to a close. It was a very successful semester for our new group, including movie nights, the GAP protest, political activism through letter writing, and ongoing discussions about local and global reproductive rights issues. Along with increased membership, SRR has also become an official AMS club! It has been heartwarming to feel how the UBC community has accepted and embraced our efforts. That being said, we have a lot of work to do over the next academic year!

Part of our ongoing work is our petition to limit the extent to which the GAP display can shock and emotionally harm the UBC community if and when this display returns in the future. If you havn't already, please sign our online petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/choice12/petition.html.

Speaking of petitions, Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) has an online petition regarding Stephen Harper's refusal to include abortion in his global maternal health initiative at the upcoming G8 summit. You can sign that here: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/safe-abortion.html.

Abortion has become a revived hot topic here in Canada, despite Harper's attempts to avoid the discussion. On the one hand, seeing our government so blatantly taking an anti-choice stance is infuriating and embarrassing when this extends to the global political stage. On the other hand, Canada is speaking out against the government and there has been some excellent coverage in the media of this issue and of the necessity of safe abortion. It's still important for Canadians to speak up and tell our government that we're pro-choice and that we won't stand for these recent decisions not to defend a woman's right to make decisions about her own body.

Happy Summer everyone!

- Justine

Letter Writing Campaign

SRR decided to postpone the support group (see last post) until the beginning of next semester. We did not have enough responses this this time, due to lack of timing for preparedness on our part, and it's also approaching finals time when UBC students refrain from all activities other than studying! The support groups will start up in September and we look forward to having a successful semester of support.

We still had the room booked, so we decided to have a last minute letter writing campaign about Stephen Harper's maternal health initiative for the G8 summit. We read some articles, including this one explaining Hillary Clinton's response to Harper's abhorrent decision not to include family planning in his initiative: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/03/30/clinton-contraception.html. After a discussion, we got to work writing individual letters to Harper. It was a successful and enjoyable event. Here is a photo of our finished letters, about to be sent off!

Bad news, good news

The buzz around Stephen Harper's spin on maternal health continues here in Canada. Here's an article of Stephen Harper's shameful neglect of international aid to the women who need it: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/the-sad-truth-about-harper-and-maternal-health/article1513829/

On the bright side, this opening up of the abortion issue in Canada has highlighted something important: that the majority of Canadians are pro-choice. Yay! Here's an article explaining the survey of the thoughts of Canadians around abortion: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/majority-backs-abortion-rights/article1519823/

As for our update, thanks to the GAP protest, SRR is enjoying its largest membership since its inception. At least some good came out of that awful display. And we have been more active than ever, working on a petition to UBC about GAP, holding our second pro-choice movie night last week showing "Lake of Fire", and organizing a peer support group for women who have had an abortion. Our first support group will be next Friday, April 9th from 1-3pm. This will be a safe space discussion, facilitated by a representative from speakeasy. No judgement, just tea, cookies, and stopping the silence and pain around this women's issue. Please spread the word about this event to all the women you know in the UBC community. RSVP to Justine at srr.ubc@gmail.com to learn the location of this event.

Choice in the news: our government is NOT pro-choice

I am often asked why a reproductive rights group is necessary in a pro-choice city like Vancouver, in a pro-choice country like Canada. We are needed. The anti-choice groups are organized and slowly chipping away at access to reproductive services thanks to the help of our anti-choice government. That's something most people don't know: Stephen Harper and the conservatives are not pro-choice. This has been in the news recently and I figured I would point it out as a friendly reminder that just because abortion is legal in Canada, doesn't mean we still don't have many battles to fight to defend our reproductive rights.

There has been much talk in the news lately about Stephen Harper and the conservatives as they head into the G8 summit with a proposal for international maternal health. They originally said contraceptives would not be included in this plan ( http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bureau-blog/conservatives-accused-of-willfully-ignoring-contraception-research/article1503743/). Now because of the backlash (I'm proud of you Canada!) they have changed their stance to something just as bad but more confusing: that they are "not closing doors against any options, including contraception". They then go on to say that any discussion of abortion is out of the question (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/03/18/birth-control-maternal-health.html), which seems like closing a door against that option, if you ask me. Basically Stephen Harper is silencing his pro-choice country by using confusing wording so that it isn't always immediately obvious that he is not pro-choice. He isn't. If he was, contraceptives and abortion would be included in a maternal health initiative plan.

Family planning and maternal health are two sides of the same coin, basic public health research supports this. Safe abortion, access to contraceptives, and comprehensive sex education save the lives of women. 61% of women seeking abortion are already mothers. If a mother chooses to have an abortion to better take care of herself and her children, why are we not supporting them in this by 1) preventing unwanted pregnancy in the first place, and 2) making sure abortion is safe so that she can continue to mother her children? And what if the mother's life is at risk during a pregnancy? In some cases abortion may be the only option. But if this is her choice we will just stand by and watch her suffer? We need to support women and families, not judge them. I am embarrassed by my government.

- Justine Spencer

GAP came and we showed them UBC is pro-choice

Today the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) was brought to campus by UBC's anti-choice group Lifeline. These are large, graphic images comparing abortion to genocides such as the holocaust and Rwanda. Needless to say, this is horrific, disturbing, offensive, and inaccurate.

We got the word out just in time for pro-choice students and community members to gather and protest this awful display. Among the enthusiastic crowd was a wonderful group of pro-choice students from UVic who came all the way from Victoria to show their solidarity. The protest was very successful. We handed out lots of accurate information and received a heartwarming amount of positive feedback and support from the passers-by. We greatly outnumbered them and I think it's safe to say we dominated their hateful message with our positive message of human rights, justice, knowledge, and compassion.

It's terrible that GAP was able to come to UBC in the first place. I don't think it's a stretch to call it harassment, and UBC students should not be subjected to harassment on their own campus. At our next meeting, SRR will discuss writing letters and taking action to prevent this display from returning. If you'd like to be part of this discussion, or just to talk about this powerful day, our next meeting is this upcoming Monday at 1pm in SUB 245.

A quick update on SRR other than the protest: before the break, we had our first pro-choice movie night and watched "Vera Drake". It was well attended and for anyone who missed it, I suggest you rent it because it's an amazing movie apart from sending a powerful message. SRR will host another movie night in about a week (exact date TBA), to show the documentary "Lake of Fire". A discussion will follow, since this is an intense and thought-provoking movie. During our meeting on March 22 we will be writing letters to Stephen Harper about the upcoming G8 summit to encourage him to include abortion in his discussion of international maternal health.

New Year, New Semester

Happy 2010! Welcome back to a new semester, both of SRR and of classes here at UBC.

We had our first meeting on Monday and we're off to a good start. There's already lots to plan, including a "Reproductive Rights 101" workshop. Knowledge is power, especially when our opponents are constructing dangerously convincing lies.

So let's get educated! Here are some links to great, informative websites. Thanks to Kelly of Med Students for Choice UBC for passing on this list.

NAF Canada - www.prochoice.org/canada/index.html

Canadians for Choice - www.canadiansforchoice.ca

Sexuality and U - www.sexualityandu.ca

Options for Sexual Health - www.optionsforsexualhealth.org

Canadian Federation for Sexual Health - www.cfsh.ca

Medical Students for Choice - www.ms4c.org

The next SRR meeting will be next Monday, January 18th, in SUB room 245. New members are welcome and encouraged to join! There's always room for more defenders of reproductive rights and women everywhere.

Tea Party for Choice!

SRR has been holding regular meetings and is alive and well. This Saturday will be our first official event. We're hosting an informal discussion, open to the pro-choice public, about reproductive rights issues in general. Although it will be useful to hear what is of most interest and concern so that we can take action in the new semester, mainly it's a chance to unite with pro-choice peers and feel safe in the community we're creating. The issues we face are difficult and will require support, and what better way to feel safe and connected than over a warm cup of tea? Dec. 5th, 2:30pm - 4pm in SUB room 245. Everyone is welcome, but we ask that you bring along your own cup or mug if you'd like tea.

There are many possible topics to discuss, one of which is the Stupak amendment in the US. This possible nation-wide restriction on a woman's right to choose is appalling and we Canadians will undoubtedly feel the ripples of this upset at some point. Our sympathies go out to the women who will be affected if this bill passes with the Stupak amendment and our hearts go out to the fearless pro-choice activists in the US who are working hard to protect women and families.

Finally, there was one more reason to be outraged this month. Here at UBC last week, an anti-choice presentation took place comparing abortion to the holocaust. I don't need to explain how this comparison is deeply offensive, oppressive, and inaccurate. Many believe Vancouver and UBC to be a pro-choice haven but this is obviously not the case. There is so much to protect and many reasons to speak up.

We hope to see you at the Tea Party for Choice this weekend!