When Henry Morgentaler, Canada’s best-known abortion rights advocate, died in 2013, activists and scholars began to reassess the state of abortion in the country. In this volume, some of Canada’s foremost researchers challenge current thinking about abortion by revealing the discrepancy between what Canadians believe the law to be after the 1988 Morgentaler decision and what people are experiencing on the ground. Showcasing new theoretical frameworks and approaches from law, history, medicine, women’s studies, and political science, these timely essays reveal the diversity of abortion experiences across the country, past and present, and make a case for shifting the debate from abortion rights to reproductive justice.

Shannon Stettner teaches in the Women's Studies Department at the University of Waterloo. Her research examines women's Abortion rights activism, reproductive justice, and public opinion on abortion in Canada. She is the editor of Without Apology: Writings on Abortion in Canada (Athabasca University Press), and co-editor of Transcending Borders: Abortion in the Past and Present (Palgrave MacMillan). Her research has appeared in the Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, the Journal of Canadian Studies, and Social History/histoire sociale.

Shannon Stettner's profile page

Dr. Kristin Burnett is a professor in the Department of Indigenous Learning at Lakehead University. A settler scholar, Burnett has published broadly on topics related to Indigenous health and well-being, and much of her current research and policy work engages with systemic barriers to health care, social services and supports, and food.

Kristin Burnett's profile page

Travis Hay is a historian of Canadian settler colonialism who was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He is currently an assistant professor at Mount Royal University, the author of Inventing the Thrifty Gene, and the English Language Book Review Editor of Canadian Journal of Health History.

Travis Hay's profile page

[…][i]n 2019 it is ever more evident that a broader concept of reproductive justice is one that encompasses not only our reproductive health but legal, social and economic justice as well. This book helps move us in that direction.

Herizons

Abortion is unique in that it ties together the perspectives of scholars in history, politics, and law, as opposed to other compilations that focus on works from one particular field, echoing the intersectionality of modern day reproductive justice framework.

Canadian Law Library Review