By Ashley Kim & Xiao Qing Wan

Originally published here on March 6, 2025.

BC reproductive rights advocacy groups say it is a crucial time to defend the country’s strides in abortion rights, and to make gains in advance of the upcoming federal election.

Although BC became the first province to provide free prescription contraception in 2023, reproductive justice advocates say the fight is not quite over.

“We’re just talking about contraception, but we’re not even talking about access to abortion services or sexual reproductive health services in remote communities,” said Teale Phelps Bondaroff, co-founder of AccessBC, a grassroots campaign advocating for free prescription contraception.

Phelps Bondaroff said the strides that have been made in BC are the result of not only defending what is already available, but simultaneously pushing for further progress.

For example, Phelps Bondaroff said that BC stands to benefit from an election lead up acceleration of the negotiation process around Bill C-64 (the Pharmacare Act), which involves negotiating deals with other provinces to provide free coverage for contraception and diabetes medications.

Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre has voiced his opposition to the Pharmacare Act, and made assurances on abortion rights that the Conservative Party will not support legislation to regulate abortion.

Abortion in Canada has been treated as a healthcare service since it was legalized in 1969 and decriminalized in 1988. Access to safe abortions in Canada has increased with the introduction of Mifegymiso, a drug used in medication abortion.

Margot Young, a professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC)’s Peter A. Allard School of Law, said if the Conservatives are elected, Poilievre will have “caucus members that are lobbying him to open the abortion issue.”

Improving access in small communities

In BC, medical professionals such as Dr. Brian Fitzsimmons, a gynaecologist and clinical professor at UBC’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, are working to continuously support women’s reproductive rights. As the director of the UBC Family Planning Fellowship Training Program, Fitzsimmons said the program works to destigmatize abortion and improve access for people in smaller communities.

“My job is training other healthcare providers across the country to be able to provide services, so people don’t have to travel for these procedures,” Fitzsimmons said. “We’re trying to treat [abortion] as an essential skill that doctors who are practicing women’s reproductive health need to be able to do.”

Accessibility and awareness about services remain a prominent issue for advocates despite the existence of 161 clinics and hospitals across the country that offer abortion care, in addition to primary care providers who prescribe medicated abortions.

Venny Ala-Siurua, executive director of Women on Web, a Canadian non-profit organization that facilitates global access to abortion pills, said that BC has “great services” for reproductive health. Although their services are not available to people in Canada, she said many still reach out because abortion access isn’t shared across the country, with particular challenges for women in remote areas and provinces with lower accessibility to abortions.

“There’s a lot of access issues and people have to travel huge distances to get basic healthcare,” said Ala-Siurua.

Dr. Renée Hall, the medical director at Willow Reproductive Health Centre, cited disinformation as another critical barrier to accessibility, even in BC. Crisis pregnancy centres, anti-abortion organizations disguised as clinics and counselling centres, aim to dissuade people from getting abortions.

Although these centres are not as much of an issue in Vancouver, which has multiple locations and access points for abortion, rural areas are disproportionately affected.

“People who go there are told that they need to keep their unintended pregnancy,” said Hall. “They end up feeling horrible and guilty.”

Co-presidents of UBC’s Women’s Centre Denise Zhu and Sabine Gaind work to raise wider awareness of resources including menstrual health and safer sex products for university students.

According to the centre, many UBC students are often unaware of its existence, and uninformed about the resources that are available to them.

“Students don’t know that they can access youth clinics, and so they end up resorting to the ER or they don’t go to any at all, which is even worse,” said Zhu.

Advocacy groups and healthcare professionals who continue to champion the campaign encourage the public to get involved to maintain the progress BC has made thus far in safeguarding women’s reproductive rights.

“Whether you’re an artist or a data nerd, there’s a space for you in the movement,” said Phelps Bondaroff. “Find a role for yourself and get involved.”