POWELL RIVER, B.C. – Last weekend, the Powell River Pro-Life Society held a demonstration at Willingdon Beach.
This was counteracted by another demonstration by pro-choice residents in the Powell River region.
Pro-life demonstrators were calling for a law to govern abortion across Canada.
The group ran the event in conjunction with the organization We Need a Law, which works towards changing policies around abortion.
This past Monday, the Powell River RCMP stated that a police presence was needed at the event, and a 29-year-old man was subsequently arrested on the scene for obstructing police.
On Wednesday, North Island-Powell River MP, Rachel Blaney, addressed the weekend’s events.
“For me, my position will always be the same, which is that a woman has the right to her body and what she has to make decisions about is nobody’s business but her own,” she said.
In Powell River, women must travel to the Lower Mainland to get an abortion.
“When it comes to accessing abortion, this has been a challenge in our part of the world for a long time, you know, women having to travel quite a distance on their own dime to access services that every Canadian woman is supposed to be able to access,” Blaney said.
“In terms of the decisions that are made, there’s not a lot we can do federally, but I’ll continue to fight for that.”
Blaney said it’s extremely difficult to see the lack of availability for health services, like abortion, in rural communities.
“This is about making sure that there is accessibility, making sure that the funds that are going to the provinces to provide health services are, you know, accessible,” she said.
“It’s shameful in this day and age, that a woman still doesn’t have the right, by logistics, to make a decision that she has every right to make.”
Further details on abortion laws in British Columbia can be found via this link.
