Warning: This photo essay describes the use of abortion imagery and anti-choice rhetoric. All abortion imagery in the featured photos has been covered.
Epigraphs
“My or your freedom should not infringe on someone else’s freedom.”
– Kemlin Nembhard, Executive Director of the Women’s Health Clinic at “My Body, My Choice, Our Struggle: A Conversation on Reproductive Justice.”
“If you cannot control your own body, you cannot control your life.”
– Linda Taylor, Founding Board Member of the Women’s Health Clinic at “My Body, My Choice, Our Struggle: A Conversation on Reproductive Justice.”
Introduction
In honour of International Women’s Day, this photo essay highlights and commends University of Manitoba (UM) students who have, for more than a decade, counterprotested and launched initiatives against anti-choice groups on UM’s Fort Garry Campus (FGC). These students have challenged harmful anti-choice narratives and imagery, advocated for a safer campus, and pushed for improved access to reproductive education and healthcare. They have strived to ensure that fellow UM students can make informed choices about their bodies.
However, this photo essay reveals that, unlike UM students, UM administration has remained passive in addressing anti-choice groups on UM’s FGC. UM administration must act against anti-choice groups and establish policies, such as enforcing an abortion protest buffer zone, to create a safe and supportive campus environment for all UM students.
Photo by Fraser Nelund and article by Quinn Richert. Abortion debate front and centre at the U of M: Student group compares abortion with graphic genocide imagery. The Manitoban. October 2, 2013. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/manitoban2oct2013.
At the start of the 2013-2014 academic year, the anti-choice student group UM Students for a Culture of Life (UMSCL), with permission from UM administration, set up a graphic display that equated the Holocaust and Rwandan Genocide with abortion. In response, a group of UM students staged a counterprotest to challenge the display’s dangerous and misleading messaging.
Andrew Woolford, a UM Professor of Sociology, and Genocide Scholar, spoke in solidarity with the student counter-protesters. Speaking to The Manitoban, he criticized the display stating, “it does little to foster intelligent debate when everyone who supports [the] right to choose is placed in the position of being a genocide denier or genocidaire.”
Photo by Chantal Zdan and article by Diana Ubokudom. Pro-life student group workshop met with protest: Students express disapproval of University of Manitoba Students for a Culture of Life. The Manitoban. October 18, 2017. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/09_2017_oct_18_web.
On October 12th, 2017, UMSCL hosted a “Pro-Life 101” workshop on the UM’s FGC to advance their pro-life agenda with attendees. However, the event was disrupted by pro-choice UM students, seen in the image above. The students distributed reproductive health pamphlets and shouted pro-choice sayings to workshop attendees.
One of the pro-choice students, Maya Martinez, shared with The Manitoban that the “[pro-choice students] think that [UMSCL] intimidate [students] on campus who have had abortions or are looking to have abortions.”
Photo by Quincy Houdayer and article by Shaden Abusaleh. Anti-abortion group asked to leave Fort Garry campus: UMSAN-RSM holds workshop on combating “anti-choice” groups. The Manitoban. February 7, 2018. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/22_2018_feb_7_web.
Due to the presence of UMSCL and the Canadian Coalition for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR) on UM’s FGC, the UM Student Action Network – Revolutionary Student Movement (UMSAN-RSM) hosted a workshop on February 1st, 2017, called “Proletarian Feminism: Combatting Anti-Choice Groups in Winnipeg.”
Elizabeth McMechan, a UMSAN-RSM member and one of the event’s organizers, said that “a lot of [anti-choice rhetoric] is inherently misogynistic and wrong and [she doesn’t] think that University of Manitoba students should be subject to that when they’re trying to be in safe space to get their education.” McMechan further explained that UMSAN-RSM was committed to limiting the presence of anti-choice groups on UM’s FGC.
Photo by Sahar Azizkhani and article by Malak Abas. Pro-life campaign sparks protest outside UC: Dispute over reproductive rights debate and its place in public spaces. The Manitoban. October 24, 2018. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/12_2018_october_24_online_.
On October 22nd, 2018, UM students organized a counterprotest in front of the University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) University Centre where members of the CCBR displayed images of aborted fetuses and attempted to engage passersby in pro-life discussions.
Shannon Furness, who was involved in the counterprotest and the UM Arts Student Body Council (ASBC) Women’s Representative at the time, explained to The Manitoban that “the demographic that most get abortions is 18 to 24, so [the CCBR] are here for a reason… regardless of if [anti-choice groups] are actually directly restricting our reproductive rights – which they’re not at this point – it still can impact [one’s] right to choose… it can make them feel victimized, vulnerable, or ashamed.”
Another student who participated in the counterprotest, Elizabeth McMechan from UMSAN-RSM, stated that she believes “it’s important that the university make a statement about whether or not they’re going to support a student’s right to bodily autonomy.”
Photo by Alexander Decebal-Cuza and article by Malak Abas. UMSU, ASBC advance motions on pro-life groups: Councils will vote to oppose “coercion” by reproductive rights groups; UMSU motions support reproductive rights: Board passes amendments to position statement, safe environment policy. The Manitoban. October 31 and November 7, 2018. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/13_2018_october_31_online_ and https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/14_2018_november_7_online_.
In response to concerns raised by UM students about the presence of the CCBR and UMSCL on UM’s FGC, UMSU’s Board of Directors approved significant amendments to UMSU’s Safe Environment Policy and Equitable Campus Position Statement on November 5th, 2018.
Motion 0428A updated the Equitable Campus Position Statement to affirm UMSU’s support for “one’s right to freedom of reproductive choice; and one’s right to be free from coercion or attempted coercion with respect to making reproductive choices.”An additional sub-clause clarified that UMSU does not support “any act of coercion or attempted coercion with respect to making reproductive choices” or “the dissemination of graphic material or information that is misleading or false as part of any event/activity or within the group/club or association.”
Motion 0428B revised the Safe Environment Policy to explicitly include “any act of coercion or attempted coercion with respect to making reproductive choices”under the definition of “discriminatory or harassing behaviours and actions.”
Concurrently, ASBC introduced a motion that aimed to prevent the display of “graphic images and the targeting of vulnerable individuals” by the CCBR, UMSCL, and other anti-choice groups in Faculty of Arts buildings.
Photo by Ebunoluwa Akinbo and article by Colton McKillop. Anti-abortion group CCBR holds rally on campus: Graphic images of aborted fetuses met with counter-protest. The Manitoban. September 14, 2022. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/109_05_sep14_2022.
In less than 24 hours, the UMSU Women’s Centre (WC) and Justice for Women Manitoba (JWM) organized a student counterprotest in response to the CCBR’s anti-choice presence on UM’s FGC in September 2022.
Jessica Gibson, President of JWM at the time, condemned the CCBR’s use of images of aborted fetuses, calling them “triggering and retraumatizing.”
UMSU also issued a statement on Instagram, emphasizing its commitment to student well-being: As “a union meant to support our student body and protect them from harm… [UMSU] cannot sit idly by when some attempt to shame our students for making personal choices about their own lives and futures.”
Gibson urged UM administration to take more decisive action to protect students from distressing material and anti-choice demonstrations on campus, arguing that the university’s existing warning posters were insufficient.
Photo by Ebunoluwa Akinbo and article by Alicia Rose. Student groups hold pro-choice initiative: Event comes as a response to anti-abortion group presence on campus. The Manitoban. April 5, 2023. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/109_28_apr05_2023.
Taking an approach beyond traditional pro-choice counterprotests, the UMSU WC, JWM, and ASBC launched an initiative to support students during anti-choice demonstrations on the UM’s FGC in late March and early April 2023.
This initiative included distributing reproductive health resources and extending the UMSU WC’s hours to provide a safe space where students could seek support and information. Designed to minimize the negative mental health impacts of direct engagement with anti-choice demonstrators, who often use graphic imagery and start inflammatory debates, this initiative prioritized student well-being while promoting informed choice.
Photo courtesy of the UMSU Women’s Centre.
On November 9th, 2024, the UMSU WC held a counterprotest against an anti-choice group outside UMSU University Centre. This anti-choice demonstration and counterprotest came just days after the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose hand-selected Supreme Court Justices overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Since his re-election, Trump’s administration has only continued to threaten reproductive rights in the U.S., impacting many American UM students.
In conversation with Brie Willoughby, the UM student pictured above, they said they are “a firm believer that everyone has a fundamental right to control their own body and make decisions about what happens to it.”
Willoughby expressed frustration with anti-choice groups who come to UM’s FGC with “triggering and falsified images to essentially demonstrate that people don’t deserve to decide whether or not to be pregnant.”
Upon hearing that the UMSU WC was holding a counter-protest, Willoughby “immediately knew [they] had to be part of it.”
Overall, Willoughby was “incredibly heartened by how many people showed up to demonstrate, that [UM] students do not agree with [anti-choice demonstrators], and that [UM students] fiercely defend the right to decide what happens to one’s body.”
Conclusion
For over a decade, pro-choice student activists on UM’s FGC have driven change and worked to protect the well-being and reproductive autonomy of the UM student community. However, the responsibility of safeguarding the UM student community should not rest solely on students. It is time for UM administration to take action against anti-choice groups on UM’s FGC, ensuring that all students feel safe, supported, and empowered in their education and reproductive choices.
By: Hannah Belec (she/her)
