Reproductive justice is a term used to encapsulate what it means to have true reproductive freedom. This includes the right to have or not have children, to easily access reproductive health services and to have supports for those who form families such as access to childcare. Reproductive justice can look like the ability to access contraceptives, the ability to safely terminate a pregnancy and receiving accurate, sex-positive and diverse sexual education.

It remains a struggle for students across Canada to access thorough and intersectional health services related to reproductive and sexual health.  Vocal support for anti-choice organizations from some Canadian politicians and recently escalating legislative attacks on abortion access across the United States underlines the necessity of  students continuing to advocate and organize for universally accessible and intersectional reproductive healthcare.  On our own campuses anti-choice groups have been actively campaigning with graphic materials depicting violent and misleading imagery for the purpose of shaming and harassing those who support free access to safe abortions.

Since the approval of Mifegymiso (the abortion pill) in 2015, Canadian women were finally given an alternative to surgical abortions. However, with surgical and now medical abortions only being offered only in Winnipeg and Brandon, patients have to make the expensive trek into these cities, wasting valuable work and family time and incurring expenses for travel, accommodation and child care.

Until recently Manitoba was one of only two provinces across Canada to not provide universal coverage for Mifegymiso. However, this has recently changed thanks in large part to the successful organizing of Manitoba Medical Students for Choice and their Make Mife Free in MB campaign; yet another example of how organized students can positively affect public policy.