Abortion Caravan


The Abortion Caravan was a feminist protest movement formed in Canada in 1970 by members of the Vancouver Women's Caucus. It was created to oppose the 1969 amendments to the Criminal Code which restricted legal access to abortion. Members formed a caravan, emulating previous peripatetic protest movements, traveled from Vancouver to Ottawa and gathered support along the way. Hundreds of women across Canada engaged in protests at the Prime Minister's official residence, burning effigies and leaving a black coffin at the front door. These protests sparked wider debate and contributed to abortion laws being struck down in 1988.

History

In February 1970, members of the Vancouver Women's Caucus gathered to begin planning the Abortion Caravan, Canada's first national feminist protest. Many members of VWC were part of New Left organizations and were either students or worked on university campuses. The Abortion Caravan was an opposition to the 1969 amendments to section 251 of the Criminal Code, which legalized abortion only in cases where pregnancy threatened the health of the mother. Under the amendment, abortions could only be performed by a licensed physician in an accredited hospital, and only after being approved by a therapeutic abortion committee which is a three-member panel of doctors. All other abortions, performed without the approval of a T.A.C. or in free-standing clinics, continued to be illegal and subject to criminal code sanctions. The T.A.C. system proved to be inaccessible to most women. More specifically, organizations, such as the VWC, felt the TAC process was often too slow and was unattainable for low-income women.
In mid-April 1970 a delegation of the VWC set out from Vancouver in a yellow convertible, a pickup truck, and a Volkswagen bus with a black coffin strapped on the roof. Aimed at emulating the On-to-Ottawa Trek of the Depression era, the Abortion Caravan traveled from Vancouver to Ottawa, stopping in twelve communities to galvanize support. As they traveled to Ottawa, members of the VWC stopped in cities and towns every night, holding public meetings and listening to women's concerns so they could bring their voices to the government. Along the way, the participants also held guerrilla theatre performances.
The Abortion Caravan arrived in Ottawa on Mother's Day weekend 1970. A convoy of Canadian women, over five hundred strong in support, arrived - coat hangers and a black coffin in tow - to demand the legalization of unrestricted access to abortion services for all Canadian women.
Participants of the Abortion Caravan declared "war on the Government of Canada", with hundreds of women from across Canada rallying for two days on Parliament Hill. At 24 Sussex Drive, the official residence of the Prime Minister, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was burned in effigy. A black coffin adorned with coat hangers, representing women who had died from self-induced or back-alley abortions, was left at the Prime Minister's front door.
On May 11, 1970, about 80 women donning black headscarves arrived at the House of Commons. The women surrounded the centennial flame carrying a black coffin. Approximately three dozen women, dressed in feminine attire, including heels and skirts, pantyhose and gloves, entered the House of Commons taking their seats in the various galleries circling the House. Once seated, the women quietly chained themselves to their seats, listening intently as, on the House floor, NDP MP Andrew Brewin asked the Minister of Justice John Turner if he would consider reviewing the abortion law; Turner said he doubted the law would be reviewed, closing discussion on the matter.
Just before 3 p.m., one of the women rose from her seat in the gallery and began reciting the Abortion Caravan's prepared speech, interrupting debate on the floor of the House of Commons. As parliamentary guards approached the woman, a second woman stood up in another area of the gallery and continued to give the group's speech. One by one, the women rose from their seats, adding their voices to the group's speech and chanting "free abortions on demand".
As Parliamentary guards moved through the galleries apprehending the protesters and forcibly removing the women from their seats, one woman reportedly "hurled a water bomb at the government benches before being rushed by security officers and marched from the building"; other women had their chains "removed by bolt-cutting guards and were heckled by onlookers as they were escorted from House". The gallery disturbance caused by activists served as the climax of the Abortion Caravan, provoking the first adjournment of Parliament in its 103-year history, shutting down the House of Commons for over an hour.
The Abortion Caravan brought national attention to the opposition to the 1969 amendments and the movement for “unrestricted access to legal abortion.”

The "New Abortion Caravan"

In 2012, a counter-protest movement was formed to highlight what they see as the injustice brought about by the original. On May 29, a team of young people set out re-tracing the steps of the 1970 Caravan. This team from the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform used graphic images in order to force attention on what is being chosen.