Reporter’s Notebook: Why I reported on abortion access in the Interior

Six months before the Kamloops This Week (KTW) was permanently shuttered, I was faced with what felt like an impossible decision.

The news of an unplanned pregnancy arrived a mere three weeks after my year-and-a-half-long relationship had ended, and two weeks later, I was laid off.

The journalism role I held at the community newspaper was intended to temporarily backfill for Jessica Wallace while she was on maternity leave, but it ended about six months ahead of schedule. As one of the outlet’s newest hires, I was devastated to learn about seniority-based layoffs in-advance of KTW’s closure, and on Oct. 25, 2023, the last edition of the KTW was distributed.

I spent several weeks wrestling with the decision of an unplanned pregnancy alone, being urged to have an abortion or to put the child up for adoption by anyone I confided in. As a single mother of one, I was no stranger to the stigma of “doing it alone” and had every confidence that I could make it work, but I was still afraid to articulate my desire to have a second child of my own with subjectively little to no support in Kamloops (Tk’emlúps) through it all.

As a mother, you can’t walk away from news of an unplanned pregnancy, and ignore your responsibilities. It directly impacts your body and mind.

Parenting while navigating the complexity of a job loss following a global pandemic, and living with an unplanned pregnancy, quickly challenged my own perspective on abortion access.

The whole experience posed an interesting conundrum about what is truly selfish and what is selfless. There is no shortage of arguments in either direction, but I can assure you that the person going through the experience first-hand has agonised about every aspect of every argument before making their decision, and living with the consequences of it.

Ultimately, my decision was to refuse to continue with the pregnancy. I believe that the sole purpose of my child’s spirit was to permanently sever ties for two people who were trapped in a toxic relationship.

Within a matter of weeks of having a surgical abortion with conscious sedation, I saw several anonymous posts in the Mamas for Mamas – Kamloops group on Facebook where other femme-identifying individuals desperately searched for information to access abortion care.

There, in the face of anonymity and gestures of goodwill, moderators are sometimes forced to refocus the conversations each time unsolicited opinions are added to posts of this nature.

Late last year, I shared my story in an op-ed for the Globe and Mail to share about the importance of self-determination and bodily autonomy. I wanted to write this explainer for The Wren to help provide women who don’t wish to be pregnant for any reason with information about how best to access abortion care. 

Abortion care is reproductive care. So why is it hard to access in the Interior?

While the Supreme Court of Canada decriminalised abortion in 1988 following R. v. Morgentaler to ensure women could safely and legally access medical procedures, it remains difficult to find and access reputable information about service providers.

Most people in the U.S. who have abortions, about 60 per cent, are already parents. The highest number of abortions are performed for women over the age of 30, Action Canada states.

The ongoing shortage of healthcare professionals and stigma associated with abortions has kept many of these conversations behind closed doors, making access to abortion care referrals challenging to say the least.

In spite of its controversial roots, my reporting on this issue has shown the fight to expand access to abortion care has a long way to go, and health care advocates for sexual health and reproductive rights have recommendations that demand your time and attention.

We, at The Wren, hope you will take some time out of your day to learn about some of the barriers to accessing safe and legal abortion care in the Interior today, and some of the proposed solutions that could improve health care for your loved ones.