Anger, indignation, sadness: the reversal of the judgment Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the right to abortion throughout the United States, provoked a shower of reactions in Canada.
This decision is “really infuriating,” said Kelly Day, an American who has lived in Montreal for a year, in an interview with The duty. “It’s depressing for all these American women to feel helpless,” laments the 44-year-old woman. To feel that they have no control over their health and their lives. »
The decision made public on Friday allows US states to restrict or ban abortions within their borders as they see fit.
For Ms. Day, the reversal of this judgment was “unfortunately foreseeable”. “It’s depressing not to be surprised,” she breathes.
The mother of three worries about the plight of American women, especially when it comes to mental health. “The act of removing options [aux femmes] will cause a lot of trauma,” she said.
For Jessica Legault, co-coordinator of the Quebec Federation for Planned Births (FQPN), the judgment rendered on Friday is a huge disappointment. “Here we are faced with this disgusting situation,” she laments. We are discouraged and worried for the Americans. »
“It’s a day of hindsight,” says Valérie Beaudoin, associate researcher at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair. The reversal of Roe v. Wade takes the United States back to “a pre-1973 universe,” where the constitutional right to abortion is no longer guaranteed, she explains.
Ms. Beaudoin points out that some American women will have to travel and pay money to be able to have an abortion. “Women who are marginalized and have few means are going to be most affected by today’s decision,” she said.
Regarding the repercussions on Canadian soil, a form of “medical tourism for abortions” could emerge, estimates Valérie Beaudoin, associate researcher at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair. As for the political impacts, she points out that “when something happens on the United States side, questions arise in Canada”. The elected officials will be questioned to know “whether or not they are in favor of the choice of women”, she says.
The indignant political class
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the news “horrible”. “No government, politician, or man should dictate to a woman what she can or cannot do with her body,” he wrote. on Twitter. I want Canadian women to know that we will always stand up for your right to choose. »
This is a “sad setback for women’s rights and freedoms”, tweeted the Premier of Quebec, François Legault.
Also on Twitter, the Minister responsible for the Status of Women, Isabelle Charest, said she was “wholeheartedly” with American women. In Quebec, “we will never allow” the right to abortion to be questioned, she assured. Premier François Legault called the ruling a “sad setback for women’s rights and freedoms.”
In Montreal, Mayor Valérie Plante said she was “outraged”. “This decision is an unacceptable setback, she wrote on Twitter. Let us denounce it forcefully and vigorously, here as elsewhere. »
The leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, Dominique Anglade, for her part denounced a “nameless setback”, speaking of a “dark day for women and their rights and freedoms”. “We must continue to fight so that our daughters always have more rights than us, not less,” she said on social networks.
With The Canadian Press