Call for Papers: Abortion: The Unfinished Revolution
Conference: August 7-8, 2014 at the University of Prince Edward
Island, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
In recent years, there have been numerous
attempts worldwide to limit women’s access to safe abortion. In 2012, an anti-abortion bill in the
Canadian parliament that purportedly aimed to open a discussion on “when life
begins” was interpreted as an attack on abortion rights and was defeated by
Members of Parliament in a vote of 203 to 91. In Ireland that same year, Savita Halappanavar
was denied an abortion, even though she was miscarrying the fetus. Her subsequent
death sparked international outrage and renewed calls to relax abortion
restrictions in that country. In Texas
in 2013, despite an inspiring eleven-hour filibuster by Senator Wendy Davis,
Democrats ultimately failed to block stringent new restrictions on abortion
availability in that state. Meanwhile,
the Mexico City Policy continues to affect the abortion experiences of women
throughout the world. Thus, in spite of the many gains that have been made in
women’s rights since the mid-twentieth century, reproductive autonomy continues
to elude women in many countries around the world. Even in Canada, where there
is no federal abortion law and abortion is regulated like any other medical
procedure, there is tremendous disparity in access to abortion services across
the country. For example, Prince Edward Island is touted by the Canadian
anti-abortion movement as being a “life sanctuary” since it eliminated access
to safe surgical abortions in 1986, a
point that was a focus of that movement’s national conference in 2013. Attendees are invited to PEI to reflect on the
status of abortion internationally.
This interdisciplinary conference invites
proposals on all aspects of abortion.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
-Abortion rights
activism and reproductive justice
-Barriers to abortion
access
-Lived experiences of
abortion
-Shifting
(historical/political) meanings of abortion
-The place of women in
abortion politics/history
-Historical
constructions of the fetus
-The role of the state
in abortion politics
- The role of the
medical profession in abortion politics
-The influence of
medical advancements on abortion politics/history
-Abortion and sexuality
-Abortion in the
classroom: pedagogy and politics
Those interested in presenting should
submit a 250-word abstract, along with a one-page CV, to the conference
organizers at: abortionpei@gmail.com. Panel presentations will also be accepted.
Proposals are due by January 31, 2014. Attendees
invited to present will be notified no later than February 15, 2014.
Conference organizers:
Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie
University of Prince
Edward Island
Dr. Tracy Penny Light
University of Waterloo
Dr. Shannon Stettner
York University
