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Abortion Caravan: When Women Shut Down Government in the Battled for the Right to Choose
Abortion Caravan: When Women Shut Down Government in the Battled for the Right to Choose | Karin Wells
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In January of 1970 a 'Dear sisters' letter goes to women's liberation groups across the country enlisting support in the fight for greater access to abortion. In the spring of 1970, seventeen (mostly) young women set out from Vancouver in a big yellow convertible, a Volkswagen bus, and a pickup truck. It was called the Abortion Caravan. Five thousand kilometres later, they led a rally of 500 women on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, "occupied" the Prime Minister's front lawn, chained themselves to their chairs in the visitors' galleries and shut down parliament--the first and only time this was accomplished. The seventeen were a motley crew. They argued, they were loud, and they took no prisoners. In an era when there was no social media and no one could afford long-distance phone calls, they pulled off a national campaign. It changed their lives. And at a time when thousands of women in Canada were dying from back-street abortions, it pulled women together across the country.
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The law in 1970 favoured some women over others. At some point in the meeting, someone shouted, “Poor women can‘t get abortions! If your wife or rich women wanted an abortion, they could get one!” And then came the moment that all the women remember. [Canadian Prime Minister] Trudeau responded, “So?” The women echoed in perfect chorus, “So!“ and then with one voice, they burst into song: “Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on, hold on!“