'It's a humanitarian issue': Yellowknife boutique makes bold pro-choice statement

A Yellowknife retailer is using her storefront window display to send a strong, pro-choice message. 

White t-shirts stand boldly against a red backdrop in the front window of Iceblink, a clothing boutique on Franklin Ave. in the heart of downtown, emblazoned with quotes from women's rights advocates and politicians.   

"'No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body' - Margaret Sanger," reads one. "'No woman has an abortion for fun.' - Elizabeth Joan Smith," says another.

"The t-shirts are the visual representation of a shout," said owner Judy McNicol, the woman behind the display. "It's loud and aggressive and we're often accused as women of being very loud, aggressive, all these sort of negative terms, if we're speaking up for ourselves." 

"We're taught to be nice and ... that unless you're nice you're not being feminine, you're not being kind, you have to smile and sort of buckle under," she added. 

In the centre of the display is a mannequin in a cage dressed in a "very white, pure, sort of virginal dress" adorned with red feathers.

"Politicians shouldn't make laws about our bodies" reads text affixed to the front of the dress.

McNicol said this symbolizes "women or people with a uterus being contained within this cage, almost as if they're being treated like an exotic bird who can't make any decisions for themselves." 

On closer inspection, the display is filled with symbolic details. 

Birch rope representing an umbilical cord weaves its way throughout the display connecting the t-shirts, part of it wrapped in sari silk. Each shirt is also hung by a wire hanger and attached with fishing line to the ground, anchored with a  fishing weight.

"Everyone is born with an umbilical cord, it doesn't matter gender, race, time, place. It's weaving everyone together in one humanity," McNicol said. 

The provocative display, reminiscent of collages by American feminist artist Barbara Kruger, was spurred by an increase in anti-abortion laws in the United States.

"It really struck me as something that could easily happen here," McNicol said. 

"On social media, what I see is a lot of talk and with all sorts of issues and we have the idea that something's actually changing, something's actually being done," she added. "We think that we're safe but I don't actually think that we are really very safe."

Several states have passed laws imposing a variety of restrictions on abortions in the past year. And the issue has seen increased conversation across the border in Canada in response. 

Abortion has been legal in Canada since 1988 when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in R. v Morgentaler that the criminalization of abortion was unconstitutional and violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

"I think it's a humanitarian issue," said McNicol. "I could have done it years ago or years from now, it's always going to be relevant, women have to have the choice." 

McNicol was prepared for negative reactions to the display but said the responses she's received everyday have been "surprisingly all positive" from teens to people in their 70s. 

"I wasn't expecting the amount of positive comments that I've had," she said.

"I thought it would cause a little bit of a stir, I didn't think it would cause as much of a stir as it has. I'm really, I'm very grateful for that."