Irish Town, Isle aux Morts, Port-au-Port… They come from all over Newfoundland and Labrador to get an abortion, a service that would otherwise only be available several hundred kilometers away. Because despite its size, a single permanent clinic, in Saint-Jean, performs 95% of abortions in the province each year. This is why, once a month, a small team leaves to offer this service in the rural regions of the province. This Saturday, this mobile clinic was in Corner Brook; The duty accompanied them.
In the United States, the possible invalidation of the judgment Roe v. wade, which protects abortion rights nationwide, has pro-choice American women fearing the worst. But even here in Canada, its access is still restricted today — not by the courts, but by obstacles such as distance and related costs.
“The fact that we move can make the difference between becoming a mother or not for some women,” explains Rolanda Ryan, director of the Athena clinic. We received a lot of calls from women who couldn’t go to Saint-Jean and for whom it was quite traumatic. Sometimes we paid for our plane tickets ourselves,” she says.
For thousands of islanders, the only way to get this care is to drive hundreds of miles or fly, which can cost up to $1,000 round trip. This is without taking into account the loss of income linked to the absence of work and the expenses for accommodation… brakes which have sometimes proved insurmountable, according to the director.
That’s why, since 2017, Rolanda Ryan and her colleagues have been filling a van with medical equipment and traveling alternately to Corner Brook and Grand Falls-Windsor, the province’s two largest cities after the capital, to perform abortions.
A “huge relief”
Already the mother of three children aged 2, 3 and 8, Erica had not planned to give birth for a fourth time: her husband works on a rotational basis in Nova Scotia (a practice commonly known as fly-in, fly-out) and she takes care of the children.
“If I take care of a newborn, I will neglect my other children because they don’t need as much attention as a baby,” she said, showing pictures of them on his cell phone. I am already neglecting them right now by constantly being sick from pregnancy. All I could do was sleep, and my spouse is leaving tomorrow. »
This is her fourth abortion in twelve years. ” It’s not my first rodeo! she laughs as she pulls down her pants for the nurse to perform her ultrasound. Since her other abortions occurred before the mobile clinics were set up, she had to travel some 16 hours to get treatment in the capital. She knew that the trio would be passing through the region while trying to make an appointment in Saint-Jean, a few days earlier. “It was a huge relief,” she says.
The majority of people who turn to the Athena Clinic for an abortion are also already mothers, according to data compiled by Rolanda Ryan. And contrary to popular belief, these are not teenage girls, but mostly women in their 20s or early 30s.
Mary (not her real name), 28, has a 10-year-old daughter with special needs. “I call her Miss Lily, says the one who prefers to conceal her real name, fearing the stigma. She demands a lot of my attention, my days revolve a lot around her. I can’t imagine bringing another child into the world, it would mean giving it less time. That’s why I decided not to have any more children, even though I wanted more. She also admits to being traumatized by Lily’s hospitalization from birth, which lasted a year.
In the waiting room, she met by surprise her cousin Anna, 22, who also had an appointment to obtain an abortion. She also prefers to conceal her real name. “It’s such a small town… I suspected that I would meet people I know,” she adds. Since Mary had had an abortion in the past, she took the opportunity to guide her young cousin through the next steps. “Hopefully it will have calmed his nerves. »
“It’s not a situation I thought I would ever find myself in,” admits Anna later, who is waiting for her medication to take effect before the procedure. But I was really relieved to learn that I wouldn’t have to miss school days, drive across the province with sky-high gas prices, and book a hotel room. I’m a student, I don’t have those means right now! »
The Canadian Bible Belt
It is this type of situation that pushes some women to go to Saint-Jean, despite all the inconveniences associated with the trip, according to the director of the mobile clinic, Rolanda Ryan. They fear meeting people they know and being stigmatized by the community.
“There is a part of the island that we call the Bible belt of Newfoundland [en référence aux États-Unis], she says. It’s very religious, and there are a lot of anti-choice people there. So if you’re the doctor performing abortions, it can have a serious impact on your life and your family’s life, because people gossip and you never know what the consequences might be. »
To provide this service in hospitals, all professionals involved — such as nurses, social workers, and doctors — must be pro-choice, says doctor Kelly Monaghan, who performs abortions at mobile clinics. “People can choose not to provide this care if it conflicts with their values, which is terrible because abortion is essential health care. So it would be very complicated. »
Rolanda Ryan adds that few doctors are trained to perform abortions in the province, but they should. “There are hospitals in the central and western regions that provide care for miscarriages, and it’s basically the same procedure! »
The two activists do not see the day when a clinic would openly offer abortion in the rural regions of the province. They are therefore demanding the establishment of permanent establishments where they could hold their temporary clinics as well as the reimbursement of travel and accommodation expenses for women who have to go to Saint-Jean.