Field Trip!

Our MS4C group did a field trip to a local abortion clinic the other day. There were more than 10 of us who went, which was way better than i had anticipated. The tour itself was really basic. I learned a whole lot, which was both delightful and disappointing. I am continually amazed at how very much i don't know. As usual, lots of what i learned was stuff that should have been taught in school by now. Sigh.

G. was talking earlier in the semester about trying to integrate midwifery into abortion care, which i thought sounded great at the time, but being there gave me a new appreciation of what that might look like. The clinic is as much of a difference from the hospital as the birthing centre was. (which seems obvious in retrospect, but see above re: my astounding ignorance) It was calming and clean, and decorated in gentle fierceness. The art on the walls was inconspicuous if you wanted to ignore it, and detailed if you wanted to look at it. There were lots of paintings of women together, plants, and letters from former clients.

Spending so much time learning about abortion has changed how i think about it. I'd always pictured abortion in a medicalized context - a surgical intervention. It is that, but i can now also picture abortion in the category of "common experiences on life's journey"... like living in a dorm, having a baby, losing a pet, falling in love...

Since so many of us have abortions, let's make them as positive an experience as we can. Let's make them safe, comfortable, and as integrated as possible with our lives. Let's take time to make this a good experience: listen to stories, provide a comfortable, private place to recover, and generally be supportive of people taking care of themselves.

After littleE's birth, i am a huge fan of midwives. I think it's silly that neurologists and cardiologists can (legally) perform abortions if they want to learn, but midwives and nurses can't. Midwives are funded by the quebec government for folks who want to care for their pregnancies and give birth outside of a hospital. Abortion is a common end to a pregnancy, and way less risky than birth.

Maybe i'm missing why this doesn't make sense. Feel free to enlighten me if there is a good reason why midwives can't perform abortions other than physicians' "professional privilege"...

In the meantime, all abortions should be funded, not just hospital ones. This type of care shouldn't be only for those who can afford it. While we work on wresting the monopoly away from doctors, let's at least get clinic abortions funded in quebec. There are folks getting somewhere on that point:

A group of frustrated abortion providers (frustrated with the quebec government's reticence around funding abortions in free-standing clinics) with some committed lawyers and women formed AAA a few years ago to take action regarding access to abortion in quebec. a class action suit against the ministry of health has been launched to try to force the government to respond regarding their reactionary policy. 20 days have been scheduled for the hearings and we hope people can take a half day here or there to sit in and let them know that people are interested and concerned. make sure to sit on 'our' side of the courtroom.

I'll post a location once we have it. Until then, reserve these dates.

January:
16-20; 23-27
February: 6-10; 13-17; 22-23>

Now i'm going to camp out in the library and study. Only 9 days left until the semester is over.