Protesters again marched through Montreal's streets Tuesday night, this time to speak out against planned cuts to women's health.
Thousands of protesters gathered at 8:30 at Parc Lahaie at the corner of St-Laurent and Saint-Joseph Blvds, then headed west along St. Joseph before winding through the Plateau and Mile End. The march was quickly declared illegal by Montreal police, but was allowed to continue, as protesters chanted, performed live music and marched.
Protesters say austerity measures infringe upon women’s rights, and called the march a feminist march against austerity measures. Some protesters carries coat hangers in reference to tools used for clandestine abortions. The march began unusually at Parc Lahaie, instead of the usual meeting place of Parc Emilie-Gamelin, to spite an anti-abortion protest held at the same location.
On the description for the event, organizers wrote: “As anti-feminism and violent intimidation grows towards activists, political austerity is taking away women's rights to choose where she stands in regard of her own body. This condescending bill (20) clearly states that women do not have the intelligence to make sane and safe decisions concerning their physical and mental health. This law's main goal will be to amputate accessibility to safe abortions.”
Health Minister Gaetan Barrette said last week that under the government’s controversial Bill 20, abortion will no longer be considered a mandatory service. Barrette also clarified that contrary to a published report, it will not be taking steps to limit access to abortion. A working paper was released which stated that a quota of 504 abortions per physician would be imposed.
Bill 20 also includes planned cuts to the IVF program. Barrette said the program has to be scaled back because its costs are simply too high for the province.
Bill 20 would not only scale back the program, it would also ban women aged 42 and over from using IVF at all, even if they choose to pay for it themselves, or if they use an egg donor.
