ROS. cetne, eee 8 Waa fog te eT tid Silla sis Se Sent Ne eel CD eS hee oN ee eee Casino dealers picket in New Westminster SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION LOCAL 244 Coast Casino Corporation ~ ESS i%} i iG : - SEIU members Robert Kettle (I), Cindy Pederson and Glen Nairn maintain Sebickst-tor first contract at Coast Casino. Story page 12. Sale Rae Innuwomen speak on fight for land, way of life in Labrador = page 3 on Women’s Coalition Campaigns for living, wage, pay equality — page 2 — Pro-choice activists are planning stepped- up actions, including a rally in Vancouver, in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling throwing the question of abortion rights back to individual states and indications Ottawa is moving in the same direction. Local leaders of the pro-choice move- ment plan a campaign to galvanize what they note is the overwhelming majority opinion in the province and the nation: that women have a right to safe, accessible abor- tions. Linda Ervin, spokesperson for the B.C. Coalition for Abortion Clinics, said the rally and subsequent actions are designed ‘to show support for our sisters in the Uni- ted States and so that we do not lose that right in Canada.” ‘ : The rally was set for the Georgia Street side of the Vancouver Art Gallery at noon on Saturday, July 8. Ervin said the pro-choice actions were sparked by several recent occurrences. The key was the decision early last week by the U.S. Supreme Court — now dominated by conservative appointees of the former Rea- gan administration — upholding parts of the state of Missouri’s anti-abortion legisla- tion. The ruling effectively allows all states of the union to ban abortions in public health facilities. Following that ruling, the Ontario Supreme Court prevented a woman 14 weeks pregnant from having an abortion anywhere in the province. Terms of the rul- ing place the fetus under the court’s protec- tion. Emboldened by the U.S. ruling, several people staged a blockade of the Everywo- man’s Health Clinic in Vancouver on July 4 and anti-choice leaders were predicting Canada would follow suit. Their remarks appeared to be confirmed by federal Justice Minister Doug Lewis, who said July 4 that Canada has been quietly drifting in the direction of leaving the decision up to provincial governments. One of the recommendations in a con- troversial report from the Law Reform Commission examining possible abortion legislation was that the question of jurisdic- tion be handed to the provinces. But that isn’t the direction the country should be taking, pro-choice leaders say. Ervin said Ottawa should place in the Canada Health Act guaranteed access to procedurally safe, government-funded abor- tions in free-standing clinics across the country. The ongoing campaign will also press the government to enact no new abortion law to replace Section 251 of the Criminal Code, struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada in January, 1988, coalition steering committee member Kim Zander said. Zander said the coalition will be setting “rallies and demonstrative actions of all July 10, 1989 SO Vol. 52, No.26 HILDA THOMAS types,” as well as lobbies, letter-writing campaigns and establishing new contracts with community groups and trade unions in the coming months. Coalition members will also be taking “stepped up measures to ensure that the clinic will function without intimidation,” including ongoing use of the injunction banning blockades at the clinic, she said. Coalition board member Hilda Thomas said the U.S. ruling on the historic Roe versus Wade decision means that “women will have to fight in every U.S. state all over again.” In Canada, Nova Scotia has adopted leg- islation banning abortions, none are per- formed in Prince Edward Island, and there are no free standing clinics in New Bruns- wick, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Thomas noted. In British Columbia, Premier Bill Vander Zalm is likely not going to try to cut Medical Plan coverage for abortions, considering how his popularity plummeted when he raised the possibility. But the province still has no funding for abortion clinics, she observed. The pro-choice movement demands full government funding for clinics that include a full range of services dealing with women’s reproductive functions, Thomas said. She said the rally is part of an effort to “wake up the silent majority” in Canada who support abortion. Polls indicate 80 per cent of British Columbians and 70 per cent of all Canadians are pro-choice. “This is not a war between two extremes. There’s just a small minority who think other people should abide by their religious convictions,” Thomas said.