Josh Bowman sees birth control as a public health issue, as does the Canadian government.
It was only just over 100 years ago (1892) that the sale or advertisement of contraception in Canada was outlawed.
Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw was one of Canada’s first female doctors, and believed that all women have the right to prevent pregnancy. She established the first family planning clinic in 1932, even though it was illegal at the time. Momentum built through the pressure of Planned Parenthood, Canadian doctors, church leaders, and other Canadian citizens (such as industrialist Alvin Ratz Kaufman).
37 years later, contraception was decriminalized.
In 1972, Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw was made a member of the Order of Canada (the highest honour of merit you can get in Canada without going straight to the Queen).
These days, thanks to a public health care system, any woman can access birth control pills through a prescription from their nurse or doctor. The cost is low ($25-$30/month), and many corporate insurance plans will cover the majority, if not all, of that cost. In 1998, 86% of Canadian women had used a contraceptive pill at some point in their lives.
This history informs how we view contraception in Canada. We teach safe sex in our high schools. We have countless free and confidential clinics in our universities and community centres (which often provide free condoms and other contraceptive devices). We glorify those individuals who have fought for women’s reproductive rights, such as Dr. Bagshaw or Dr. Henry Morgentaler. Birth control is a public health issue in Canada, and while not everybody agrees on the issue in this country, our priority is on health care above all else.
Across the pond, Americans are engaged in a deep and polarizing ideological debate. Birth control, contraception, and abortion are framed in religious or political terms. Health care is seen as a hot button issue. Rush Limbaugh, host of the highest-rated talk-radio program in the U.S., considers women who use contraception to be “sluts”, particularly if they want the government to pay for contraception. The concept that insurers cannot opt out of providing health care in cases where they find it to be “morally objectionable” is hotly contested at the highest level of government. I have friends living in New York, Chicago, South Carolina, New Orleans. My sister is in San Francisco, and my family is from all over California…it’s where my dad is originally from. Their health and basic reproductive freedoms are in the hands of legislators and pundits, many of whom are debating whether they should even have access to either.
It’s tough to even compare these two scenarios. I take it for granted that my friend/girlfriend/sister/colleague can access health care or contraception whenever they need it. I know that if she chooses to do so, a woman in Canada has the freedom to get an abortion, to access contraception. Pierre Trudeau, arguably our most celebrated Prime Minister, famously stated that “there’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.” We govern accordingly, protecting the privacy and rights of all of our citizens.
As I watch and read the heated rhetoric right now in the U.S., it makes me realize that this debate will never go anywhere while it is framed ideologically. Access to birth control and contraception is about public health, and public health policy is only effective when we have the freedom and knowledge to make healthy choices, and affordable access to medication and health care. I can’t wait for the day when all American citizens will be able to take that access and freedom for granted, as I do here in Canada.
For more on Rush Limbaugh, read Mark Greene’s “Rush Limbaugh Finally Shits The Bed”
Photo by [F]oxymoron
Don’t be so foolish, Josh Bowman; you’re falling for the same rhetoric. Americans already have access to free abortions and contraception, and have had for many years. The only difference is the churches weren’t forced to provide funding for these services. This “War on Women” is contrived straight from the White House, and it’s nothing but shadow boxing. There IS a war on religion, though. This mandate is a clear violation of the first amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” What you flippantly dismiss as ideological rhetoric is a… Read more »
By the way, Rush didn’t say that women who want to use contraception are “sluts.” The lies that are told about Rush are ridiculous. Rush said that a woman who claims she uses $3,000 worth of contraception per year, while she’s a student at college, and who then expects you and I to pay for it is a slut. Something tells me the majority of Americans believe that, too.
So does Canada take a sexist position against men in regards to birth control like America does, or are they less concerned with kowtowing to the femisist left and more concerned with treating their citizens equally?
Well said.
If having a baby is economically and socially problematic, one can very well take precautions to avoid such unwanted birth rather than killing the baby. Precaution is MUCH better than destruction in any aspect of life. My journey – to encourage people become more mindful and compassionate in their behavior, and to promote the evolution of all the souls that may be harmed through an abortion–the child’s, the mother’s, the father’s, the abortion provider’s.
Except the only precaution that definitely won’t result in a pregnancy is complete abstinence, which is not something that can be expected of an entire population.
“Access to birth control and contraception is about public health ..” Funny that obamacare only offers “public health” to the half of the population that is born with the “right” genitalia: 1) Contraception for women is paid for, but not formen 2) Sterilization (tubal ligation) for women is paid for, but not for men (vasectomy) 3) Breats health for women is paid for, but prostate health is not covered for men 4) Smoking cessation for women is paid for, but smoking cessation is not paid for men 5) STD testing and treatment is paid for for women, but men are… Read more »
Bravo!
wow. This is news to me.
Thank you.
Yay Canada! 🙂