Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/988313
Heritage Matters 39 signed on as medical director of Canada's first birth control clinic. The clinic was illegal and could not operate publicly. The first year the clinic was open, they expected 60 people. Instead, more than 400 arrived. Bagshaw and her colleagues faced criticism from medical and religious communities. Local bishops advised women to avoid the clinic. "They called me a devil," Bagshaw remarked years later. "I didn't worry about it." She served as medical director of the clinic for more than 30 years, stepping down in 1967. When birth control was finally decriminalized two years later, the clinic could operate openly for the first time. Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw is just one of the contributors to the long struggle for women's reproductive rights throughout the 20th century, including the Morgentaler decision that led to the legalizing of abortion in 1988. This is a fight that continues today. Although access to birth control and abortion is enshrined legally, the issue for Canadian women today is one of access to safe sexual and reproductive health care. Those outside of major cities travel long distances, face delays and incur significant costs to access necessary care. Advocates today, building on the legacy of Bagshaw and her contemporaries, are focused not only on preserving legal rights, but on these aspects of reproductive justice to ensure that women in Canada have equality of access to reproductive health care. Kimberly Murphy is a former Senior Marketing and Communications Specialist with the Trust. Photos courtesy of The Hamilton Spectator.