Viewpoint – Dismayed by abortion ban

By: MaryLou Driedger Monday, Dec. 1, 2025

I was dismayed last week to learn North Dakota, our closest southern neighbour, has officially made abortions illegal. Evidence shows banning abortions increases their number. Since Roe v. Wade was struck down in the United States their abortion rates have reached highs not seen in over a decade. Research proves countries with broad access to legal abortion and contraception have the lowest abortion rates.

I was particularly struck by the North Dakota news, because just the day before the story broke, I attended the launch of Manitoba author Harriet Zaidman’s book What Friends Are For. It’s a fictional novel set in early 1980s Winnipeg. It’s been on the best seller list at McNally Robinson Booksellers for many weeks. The main character is a teenage girl who is raped by her school’s star athlete. She wants an abortion, but before 1988, that was almost impossible to access. An older friend takes her to the Dr. Henry Morgenthaler Clinic which has just opened in Winnipeg. She manages to get an abortion, but the evening she is at the medical facility, it is raided by the police. The raid is not fictional. It actually happened.

Continued: https://www.thecarillon.com/local/2025/12/01/column-viewpoint-dismayed-by-abortion-ban