'They're heroes': New book recounts the 30-year fight for abortion on P.E.I.

No Choice: The 30-year Fight for Abortion on Prince Edward Island is a book that came much sooner than Kate McKenna expected.

McKenna was not an author, or even a journalist, when she and some of her friends got together in her apartment in 2011 to found the P.E.I. Reproductive Rights Organization — she was just a young woman who saw something she felt was wrong.

"Growing up on P.E.I., I always thought it was unfair and I couldn't understand why, here, you couldn't access abortion but everywhere else in Canada you could," McKenna told CBC's Island Morning.

"My friends and I were all angry about that particular issue. We got together … and we said, OK, we're going to, if not change this, at least ask the question, 'Why is this?'"

'A really emotional day'

At the time, the province argued that it was in line with Canadian law by paying for abortions, but not offering them on the Island, thereby forcing women to the mainland for the service.

From McKenna's perspective, that just meant wealthy people could access abortions, but poor people couldn't.

"That fundamental injustice got me interested in journalism," she said.

While PRRO lobbied for abortion services on the Island, McKenna went to journalism school in 2013.

In September 2016, the P.E.I. government announced it was building a Women's Wellness Centre in Summerside, and abortions would be among the services it offered. After more than 30 years, the announcement came sooner than most expected.

"A lot of people felt it was simply never going to happen," McKenna said.

"It was a really emotional day."

With the fight behind her, McKenna went on to document what had happened, beginning with the change that led to the end of abortion services on the Island in the 1980s.

They were brave about it.— Kate McKenna

At the time, the Protestant and Catholic hospitals were being merged into a single facility: the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Abortions were being offered at the Protestant hospital, but not at the Catholic one.

Anti-abortion groups, including members of the Catholic church, began lobbying against abortions at the QEH, and successfully stacked hospital boards to end the service on P.E.I.

In her book, McKenna describes this process based on archival research and interviews with the people involved.

"The people who were involved in this fight for so long did so at great personal expense," she said.

"They were brave about it … a lot of the time they made sacrifices to make this happen and I hope that this story reflects them as heroes, because I believe they're heroes."

No Choice: The 30-year Fight for Abortion on Prince Edward Island is not an objective book, McKenna said, and it was never meant to be. It is a profile of one side.

The book will have its official launch 7 p.m. Sunday evening at the Rodd Charlottetown.

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