The day you made an appointment at an abortion clinic

I’ve never had an abortion before, but once I made an appointment to have one. I can assure you that no one takes this decision lightly.

For weeks, I was hesitant about this issue. Especially since I was already a mother of two girls at the time. I tell you how bad I felt when I came to the conclusion that having a baby now wasn’t a good deal.

That was, and I will always remember this date, May 17, 2011. I picked up the phone and called the clinic. Then I waited, sadly, for the circled date on my calendar. But I didn’t have time to go to the meeting. I lost my baby before that fateful day. Somehow, I was relieved that I didn’t have to end the dreaded pregnancy. But I was grateful to live in a country where abortion is possible.

Abortion is not a discussion

We will clarify something. Abortion is no longer up for debate. This problem was resolved in 1989 when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that it was no longer a crime. Can we stop saying that the abortion controversy is starting to emerge? Thank you.

• Hear Genevieve Petersen’s comment on the reactions received after her column on QUB Radio:

Now that this has been said, it may also be appropriate to stop qualifying those who want to manage women’s bodies as if we were in a cycle of The Scarlet Maid From “pro-life”. This expression, full of meaning, implied that people in favor of freedom of choice are “against life”?

Call it a spade: people who want to force women to have children they don’t want are “against choice”. They are not pro-life. If they were, they would consider the fate of these unwanted children once they were born.

The more we advance, the more we fall back

I can’t believe that in 2022, the pillars of the Temple of Freedom of Choice were so easily shaken. And do you know what I find most harmful about what is going on in the United States? The people, who are well seated in Canadian comfort, think he will never come here.

While it is impossible to change Canadian laws to make abortion illegal again, think of the 39 anti-choice Conservatives with prominent roles in the House of Commons. Consider the women who live in the Maritime Provinces who have to travel hundreds of kilometers to get an abortion.

And let us not lose sight, above all, that the return of this issue to the news legitimizes the people who have remained silent until then. Just as Donald Trump legitimized racism, the sermons we can hear about abortion these days give gas to those whose battle is still going. This is worrying.