The Abortion Caravan
Karin Wells
Spring 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of a group of remarkable women who helped bring about abortion reform. The caravan left Vancouver with 17 activists and arrived in Ottawa on May 8th 1970, where over 500 women rallied and shut down parliament.
In the spring of 1970, seventeen women set out from Vancouver in a big yellow convertible, a Volkswagen bus, and a pickup truck. They called it the Abortion Caravan. Three thousand miles later, they “occupied” the prime minister’s front lawn in Ottawa, led a rally of 500 women on Parliament Hill, chained themselves to their chairs in the visitors’ galleries, and shut down the House of Commons, the first and only time this had ever happened. The seventeen were a motley crew. They argued, they were loud, and they wouldn’t take no for an answer. They pulled off a national campaign in an era when there was no social media, and with a budget that didn’t stretch to long-distance phone calls. It changed their lives. And at a time when thousands of women in Canada were dying from back street abortions, it pulled women together across the country.
Author - Karin Wells.
Narrator - Karin Wells.
Published Date - Thursday, 19 January 2023.
Location:
United States
Description:
Spring 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of a group of remarkable women who helped bring about abortion reform. The caravan left Vancouver with 17 activists and arrived in Ottawa on May 8th 1970, where over 500 women rallied and shut down parliament. In the spring of 1970, seventeen women set out from Vancouver in a big yellow convertible, a Volkswagen bus, and a pickup truck. They called it the Abortion Caravan. Three thousand miles later, they “occupied” the prime minister’s front lawn in Ottawa, led a rally of 500 women on Parliament Hill, chained themselves to their chairs in the visitors’ galleries, and shut down the House of Commons, the first and only time this had ever happened. The seventeen were a motley crew. They argued, they were loud, and they wouldn’t take no for an answer. They pulled off a national campaign in an era when there was no social media, and with a budget that didn’t stretch to long-distance phone calls. It changed their lives. And at a time when thousands of women in Canada were dying from back street abortions, it pulled women together across the country. Author - Karin Wells. Narrator - Karin Wells. Published Date - Thursday, 19 January 2023.
Language:
English
Chapter 1
Duration:00:00:34
Chapter 2
Duration:00:08:59
Chapter 3
Duration:00:22:31
Chapter 4
Duration:00:29:10
Chapter 5
Duration:00:46:58
Chapter 6
Duration:00:44:37
Chapter 7
Duration:00:59:44
Chapter 8
Duration:00:48:22
Chapter 9
Duration:00:35:33
Chapter 10
Duration:01:01:21
Chapter 11
Duration:00:48:58
Chapter 12
Duration:00:30:51
Chapter 13
Duration:00:49:29
Chapter 14
Duration:01:02:30
Chapter 15
Duration:01:01:46
Chapter 16
Duration:00:48:40
Chapter 17
Duration:00:23:48
Chapter 18
Duration:00:33:21
Chapter 19
Duration:00:22:03
Chapter 20
Duration:00:03:25
Chapter 21
Duration:00:00:33
Chapter 22
Duration:00:06:49
Chapter 23
Duration:00:00:45