LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Saturday, June 25, 2022

Oceans saved us, now we can return the favour

AFP -

see as much plastic in the oceans as fish by mid-century

Humanity must heal oceans made sick by climate change, pollution and overfishing in order to rescue marine life and save ourselves, experts warned ahead of a major UN conference opening Monday in Lisbon.

By absorbing -- decade after decade -- a quarter of CO2 pollution and more than 90 percent of excess heat from global warming, oceans have kept Earth's terrestrial surface liveable.

Our species has returned the favour by dumping mountains of plastic waste into the sea, emptying the deep blue of big fish, and poisoning coastlines with toxic chemicals and agricultural runoff that create dead zones bereft of oxygen.

The new watchword is 'blue food' -- sustenance from the sea that is both sustainable and equitable

"At least one-third of wild fish stocks are overfished and less than 10 percent of the ocean is protected," Kathryn Matthews, chief scientist for US-based NGO Oceana, told AFP.

"Destructive and illegal fishing vessels operate with impunity in many coastal waters and on the high seas."

Nearly $35 billion in subsidies that aggravate overfishing will fall under a harsh spotlight in Lisbon, despite first steps towards a partial ban put in place by the World Trade Organization (WTO) last week.

Nearly 100 nations support a provision that would see 30 percent of the planet's land and ocean designated as protected areas

At the same time, ocean water made acidic by CO2 along with vast marine heatwaves lasting months or longer are killing coral reefs that support a quarter of marine life and provide livelihoods for a quarter of a billion people.

"We have only begun to understand the extent to which climate change is going to wreak havoc on ocean health," said Charlotte de Fontaubert, the World Bank's global lead for the blue economy.

- 'It's scary' -

Jointly hosted by Portugal and Kenya, the five-day UN Ocean Conference -- delayed from April 2020 by the Covid-19 pandemic -- brings together thousands of government officials, businesses, scientists and NGOs in search of solutions.

Related video: OceanX Is Exploring And Protecting Our Oceans

While they do not all see eye-to-eye on what needs to be done, they largely agree on what is at stake.

"If we don't do the right thing, we might end up with a dead ocean," Rashid Sumaila, a fisheries expert and professor at the University of British Columbia, told AFP.

"Think about that -- Oh man, it's scary."

Pollution that could, on current trends, see as much plastic in the seas as fish by mid-century is also on the agenda, with proposals ranging from recycling to outright banning of plastic bags.

From East Asian factory ships prowling the high seas to artisanal fishing boats hugging tropical coastlines, how to make wild fisheries sustainable will be high on the Lisbon agenda.

The new watchword is "blue food" -- sustenance from the sea that is both sustainable and equitable.

"Wild ocean fish can provide a climate-friendly, micro-nutrient protein source that can feed one billion people a healthy seafood meal every day -- forever," said Matthews.

Also under the microscope is the booming aquaculture industry, where issues range from the destruction of precious mangrove forests to rampant antibiotic use.

- Year-end summits -

The conference may report trend lines for wild fisheries -- which peaked in the 1990s -- and seafood farming for the first time, with each producing about 100 million tons per year.

The Lisbon meet will see ministers and even a few heads of state, including French President Emmanuel Macron, but is not a formal negotiating session.

That won't stop participants, however, from pushing for a strong oceans agenda at two critical summits later this year: the COP27 UN climate talks in November, hosted by Egypt, followed by the long-delayed COP15 biodiversity negotiations, recently moved from China to Montreal.

Oceans are already at the heart of a draft biodiversity treaty tasked with halting what many scientists fear is the first "mass extinction" since a meteor wiped out terrestrial dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago.

A coalition of nearly 100 nations supports a cornerstone provision that would designate 30 percent of the planet's land and ocean as protected areas.

For climate change, not so much.

Despite global warming's dire impact and the key role oceans play in soaking up atmospheric CO2, the seven seas have barely rated a mention within ongoing UN climate talks until recently.

But science has made it clear they need each other: oceans will continue to suffer unless greenhouse gas concentrations stabilise, and the fight against global warming will be doomed if oceans lose their capacity to draw down CO2 and soak up heat.

mh/imm

Legendary Spanish galleon shipwreck discovered on Oregon coast

Kristin Romey -
National Geographic

YESTERDAY

Archaeologists, law officers, and search-and-rescue personnel execute the risky emergency recovery of 17th-century shipwreck timbers from the Oregon coast earlier this week. They are believed to belong to the Santo Cristo de Burgos, a Spanish galleon that disappeared en route from the Philippines to Mexico in 1693.

Timbers from the wreck of a 17th-century Spanish galleon have been discovered on Oregon’s northern coast, state officials confirmed today.

The extraordinarily rare hull remains were removed from sea caves near Manzanita earlier this week in a risky emergency recovery mission involving archaeologists, law enforcement personnel, and search-and-rescue teams from multiple state and local agencies.

© Provided by National Geographic

Legendary Spanish galleon shipwreck discovered on Oregon coast

“I’m impressed and relieved,” says Scott Williams, an archaeologist with the Washington State Department of Transportation and president of the Maritime Archaeology Society (MAS), an all-volunteer group that spearheaded a 15-year search for the shipwreck.

The rugged shoreline of Oregon’s north coast, strong swells, and treacherous storms all make for a landscape hostile to centuries of navigators.

The dozen timbers are believed to be pieces of the Santo Cristo de Burgos, a Spanish galleon that was sailing from the Philippines to Mexico in 1693 when it veered off course and vanished, most likely wrecking on what’s now Oregon’s coast. Its cargo included costly Chinese silk, porcelain, and blocks of beeswax for making candles.

Santo Cristo de Burgos was a Manila galleon, a type of sturdy wooden vessel that plied an annual trade route between Spanish colonies in the Philippines and Mexico from 1565-1815, a period that marked the first era of global trade. The workhorse European ships were built in Asian ports by Asian craftspeople using Asian materials.

Despite their 250-year run—and the inevitable loss of wooden vessels crossing the hazardous Pacific—remarkably few Manila galleon shipwrecks have been found. Only three are known from the west coast of the Americas—with one each in Oregon, California, and Baja Mexico—and no surviving hull remains have been discovered until now.

Telltale signs of a sunken ship

Captain Frankie Knight of Nehalem Bay Fire & Rescue drives a jetski while firefighter Levi Hill (left) and division chief Jesse Walsh secure a ship timber on the north coast near Manzanita, Oregon, in June 2022.

The Santo Cristo is better known along the Oregon coast as the legendary “Beeswax Wreck”—a moniker derived from distinctive blocks of beeswax that washed ashore for centuries and were traded by local Native American tribes and later Anglo-European settlers. Because honeybees are not native to the Americas—they were imported from Europe in the 17th century—Asian beeswax was a major import for Spain’s colonies, where beeswax candles were required for Catholic services.

Mountain Region archaeologist Steve Jenevein and park resource program manager Chris Parkins of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, and Scott Williams, president of the Maritime Archaeological Society, wrap a timber in flotation devices before it’s brought to shore.

There were other clues that a shipwreck lay hidden somewhere offshore, from small bits of blue-and-white porcelain to large pieces of wood tossed up on the rocks or buried in the shifting sand. A section of the upper deck of a wooden ship was visible at the mouth of a river near Manzanita until about the 1920s. And oral histories from the area’s Indigenous tribes tell of a foreign ship that wrecked long ago, with a crew that came ashore and met varying fates.

The discovery of the galleon’s remains “confirms that our ancestral people knew what they were talking about,” says Robert Kentta, cultural resources director for the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz and a member of the Siletz Tribal Council. “They related oral histories in a way that just spoke the truth.”

As white settlers came to this dramatic, craggy coast, the Native American accounts became embroidered with increasingly fantastic tales of hidden riches. By the late 19th century, local legends of treasure and galleons—and the hunt for them—appeared regularly in the pages of Oregon newspapers. Those reports caught the attention of filmmaker Steven Spielberg and likely inspired his idea for the 1985 film The Goonies, a Gen-X cult tale of treasure-seeking kids and a mystery galleon on Oregon’s wild Pacific coast.

Neahkahnie Mountain near Manzanita is called the “Mountain of 1,000 Holes” after more than a century of treasure-seekers dug without success for the riches rumored to be hidden within its slopes. Stories of shipwrecks and treasure play a prominent role in Oregonian coastal lore.

But for all the talk of treasure, there were two glaring questions: Where—and what—exactly was the Beeswax Wreck?

Secrets from a tsunami

© Granger A German engraving from 1620 shows Spanish galleons in the Pacific port of Acapulco. The annual Manilla galleon trade between Philippines and Mexico between 1565 and 1815 marked the first era of truly global trade.

In the mid-2000s, a group of researchers and community members including Williams decided to answer that question, eventually forming the Maritime Archaeology Society (MAS). They studied thousands of pieces of Chinese porcelain collected by beachcombers over the years and determined they were from the Kangxi period (1661-1722)

The Chinese ceramics and Asian beeswax blocks with Spanish markings led them to conclude that the Beeswax Wreck had to be one of two Manila galleons that went missing between roughly 1650 and 1750: the Santo Cristo de Burgos, which was lost in 1693, or the San Francisco Xavier, which disappeared in 1705.

Local commercial fisherman and beachcomber Craig Andes looks for fragments of Chinese porcelain along the Oregon coast in May 2021.

At first, the archaeologists suspected that the Beeswax Wreck was the 1705 San Francisco Xavier—and with good reason. In 1700, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck the West Coast, trigging an enormous tsunami. If the Santo Cristo had wrecked in the area, they reasoned, the tsunami that swept the coast just a few years later would have destroyed anything that was left.

A galleon timber is wedged between rocks on the Oregon coast. Manilla galleons were enormous cargo vessels—roughly 150 feet long and a third as broad—ideal for maximizing the amount of goods that could be transported for sale across the Pacific.

Then a geological study revealed something surprising: The area near the Nehalem River where beeswax, porcelain, and pieces of a wooden ship had been found was under and within—not above—the sediment layer left by the estimated 25-foot-high wave that struck the coast. This meant that the mystery shipwreck must have already been there when the tsunami hit in 1700. But was it the Santo Cristo de Burgos?

A catalog of Spanish ships published in the 1930s—a source still widely consulted by archaeologists—claimed that, according to Spanish records, the Santo Cristo burned somewhere in the middle of the Pacific. But the volunteer group raised money to fund research in Spain’s exhaustive naval archives, which eventually told a different tale: Despite a multi-year search by the Spanish crown, Santo Cristo de Burgos had simply vanished.

The sun rises on a June morning on Oregon’s Pacific Coast. While the timber discovery has confirmed these are the likely remains of the Santo Cristo de Burgos, archaeologists will continue to search for other parts of the wreck that may remain offshore.

MAS researchers were then fairly confident that the Beeswax Wreck and the Santo Cristo de Burgos were one and the same vessel. But identifying the shipwreck’s whereabouts would prove even more challenging. For the all-volunteer MAS, it meant diving and surveying in their free time in difficult conditions that could change in an instant.

By 2019, their remote-sensing tools had detected a few objects off the coast near Manzanita that might be the remains of a wooden ship—or just an odd boulder on the seafloor. Yet despite the absence of conclusive evidence, the wreck of the Santo Cristo had to be somewhere offshore, they reasoned, for it had sent a steady stream of beeswax and porcelain ashore for generations of beachcombers to discover and ponder.
Growing up Goonies

Craig Andes is one of those beachcombers, a commercial fisherman who belonged to a “Goonies gang” of kids who grew up exploring the coast, inspired by tales of treasure and the Beeswax Wreck. He began sharing his knowledge of the area’s artifacts with MAS after reading about their hunt for the same fated vessel.

That information included the presence of bits of wood in sea caves that Andes first spotted in 2013. He kept a watchful eye on them and strongly believed they were ship timbers. He also grew concerned that the smaller pieces were at risk of being washed away. So in 2020 he contacted the MAS and urged them to test a sample of the wood. (Related: How do we find shipwrecks, and who owns them?)

“I was convinced it was driftwood,” MAS president Williams recalls. “To think that 300-year-old ship timbers could survive the Oregon coast was just crazy.”

A lab analysis revealed that the timbers were hewn from Anacardiaceae, a species of tropical hardwood found in Asia. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the tree was felled around 1650. Both facts lined up squarely with the composition and age of the Santo Cristo.

During the summer of 2020, MAS archaeologists investigated the caves—reachable only by water or a perilous scramble over rocks at extremely low tides—and determined that the timbers were a “secondary deposit,” meaning they were not part of a shipwreck site but had been washed into the cave, possibly by the 1700 tsunami.

The archaeologists also agreed that the timbers were at risk of being swept out to sea, but extracting them from the sea cave would be complicated and dangerous. They would have only about 90 minutes to document and remove the timbers before the tide would rise and trap them. Since the recovery could be safely done only by an expert team during an unusually low tide, they enlisted SEARCH Inc., a cultural resource management firm, to coordinate the mission. The project would be funded in part by a grant from the National Geographic Society.
A dangerous recovery

After a year of delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and unpredictable weather, a few dozen people assembled at sunrise this week on an empty beach to recover the remains of the Santo Cristo de Burgos. Personnel from the Tillamook and Clatsop Counties Sheriff’s Offices joined archaeologists from Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, MAS, and SEARCH Inc., in the risky scramble to the sea cave. Rescue swimmers from the Nehalem Valley Fire Department circled on jet skis, while ropes teams monitored the operation from the cliffs above.

The timbers were recovered safely and intact, and the team felt a palpable sense of relief. “It was amazing to pull off such a complex operation, made entirely possible by teamwork, cooperation, and exceptional professionalism by all involved,” says Jim Delgado, the project’s principal archaeological investigator and senior vice president at SEARCH Inc.

Andes watched the activity from the beach, marveling at the complex choreography. Nearly a decade had passed since he spotted the timbers, and as the first, and largest, piece was towed ashore, he ran his hand fondly along the glistening surface, pointing to a large spike hole. "Looks like there's still metal in there," he observed.

The timbers are now at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, where they’ll be carefully documented and conserved. Each timber will be scanned in detail, and the scans will be shared with Manila galleon experts around the world to better understand how the extraordinary ships were built.

But the small collection of unassuming wood is not just a source of information about Manila galleons, says Delgado. “These timbers are also the physical evidence for the stories that have been known and passed down through generations.”

Chris Havel, spokesperson for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, says the agency is looking forward to learning what researchers discover about the recovered timbers, “so we can share that news with the people who visit our parks.” But he also cautions people not to risk their lives attempting to visit the now-empty sea caves.

“Visitors should respect any signs or warnings you may see, and refrain from searching for artifacts or taking anything away from our parks other than the memories of a fun, safe visit.”

The source of the beeswax and porcelain that still washes up along the coast remains somewhere offshore, and MAS will continue its underwater hunt for more remains of the Santo Cristo de Burgos.

Meanwhile, Williams urges local community members to keep their eyes out for any “smoking gun” that could confirm the identity of Oregon’s fabled galleon, such as a coin, or any item that bears a date or name.

“Somebody could have it in the attic or their basement,” he says. Or a lucky beachcomber might turn up a decisive bit of evidence after a big storm—"if someone just looks down in the right place.”

Explorers find the world's deepest shipwreck four miles under the Pacific

Julia Buckley - CNN - Yesterday

It lurks over four miles deep below the Pacific Ocean, split in half and lodged on a slope.

There’s a new world’s deepest shipwreck to be identified and surveyed – and it’s the USS Destroyer Escort Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), known as the Sammy B.

Victor Vescovo, an explorer who has previously completed expeditions to the world’s deepest points, located the wreck together on June 22.

It lies at a depth of 6,895 meters (22,621 feet), in the Philippine Sea. By comparison, Mount Kilimanjaro’s peak is 5,896 meters, while the highest permanent settlement in the world, La Rinconada in the Peruvian Andes, is 5,100 meters (16,700 feet).

Previously, the deepest wreck ever identified and surveyed was the USS Johnston, found last year by Vescovo. That lies at 6,469 meters.

Explorer Victor Vescovo piloted the search. - Caladan Oceanic

Vescovo, the pilot, and sonar specialist Jeremie Morizet, dove down to trace the wreck from end to end. It has broken into two pieces, lying about 10 meters (33 feet) from each other.

The Sammy B. sank in the Battle off Samar, on October 25, 1944, in which the US Navy defeated the larger Japanese fleet, east of the island of Samar in the Philippines. It fought three Japanese battleships, including the Yamato, said to be the largest ever constructed. The US ship carried 224 crewmembers, 89 of whom were killed. Captain Robert W. Copeland was one of the survivors.

Explorers find the world's deepest shipwreck four miles under the Pacific89 of the 224 crew members were killed. - Caladan Oceanic

The ship “fought ferociously even though she was completely outclassed by the Japanese battleships and heavy cruisers she went up against,” Vescovo told CNN.

“The heroism of her captain and crew is legendary in the Navy, and it was a great honor to find her final resting place. I think it helps bring closure to the story of the ship, for the families of those who were lost and those who served on her. I think that having a ship vanish into the depths, never to be seen again, can leave those affiliated with the ship feeling a sense of emptiness.

Vescovo, the founder exploration company Caladan Oceanic, and a team from EYOS Expeditions made six dives over eight days looking for the ship, as well as for another US ship, the Gambier Bay. Previous records pointing to the ships’ location had been inaccurate, but the team were helped by a custom-built sidescan solar system, as well as exhaustive research.

Initially they located debris from the Sammy B. – a three-tube torpedo launcher, which it was the only one of the sunken ships to have. On the final day, they located the wreck.

Vescovo called it an “honor” to find the ship, saying in a statement that locating it had given the team the chance “to retell her story of heroism and duty.”

“In difficult times, it’s important to reflect on those who sacrificed so much, so willingly, in even more difficult times to ensure our freedoms and way of life,” he said.

“I always remain in awe of the extraordinary bravery of those who fought in this battle against truly overwhelming odds – and won.”

Vescovo called it an 'honor' to discover the ship. - Caladan Oceanic

And he told CNN that they hadn’t even been sure the trip would succeed.

“The Sammy B is a small vessel as military ships go, and we weren’t really sure that we could find her in the vast and extremely deep ocean where she went down. But with perseverance, some great historical analysis, and a whole lot of deep ocean technology and hard work, we were able to find her and provide a great opportunity to tell her amazing story,” he said.

“It is unbelievably thrilling to find a wreck on the bottom of the deep ocean, given all the difficulties in trying to find them. It is such an immense privilege to be the first person to see them after they went down in battle almost 80 years ago.”

Vescovo's team made six dives in search of the vessel. - Caladan Oceanic

Kelvin Murray, Expedition Leader and Director of Expedition Operations & Undersea Projects for EYOS said, “As ever, there’s been an incredible and dedicated effort by the whole team – the ship’s crew, sub team, historians and other specialists. Using a combination of detective work and innovative technology, everyone has pulled together to reveal the final resting place of this tenacious ship.

“It’s been a challenging, thrilling and poignant expedition, one that recognizes the ships and sailors from all nations who fought so hard during this battle. We are all proud of what has been achieved and humbled by what we witnessed.”

The team also went lower to over 7,000 meters to look for one other vessel – a carrier, called Gambier Bay – but were unable to find it. They didn’t look for the other destroyer, USS Hoel, due to lack of data.

The technology used to locate the Sammy B. means that it might not be the world's deepest wreck for long. - Caladan Oceanic

But the Sammy B. might not be the deepest wreck for too long. The group thinks its new Deep Ocean Search sidescan sonar is the deepest side-scan sonar ever operated on a submersible – normally, they go up to 6,000 meters, but this has been tested to 11,000 meters, or full ocean depth. The Caladan Oceanic team plans to take it right to the bottom next month.

Top photo: Caladan Oceanic

Aheer lone UCP leadership candidate to condemn U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision

Lisa Johnson - POSTMEDIA - Yesterday

UCP leadership hopeful Leela Aheer called the U.S. Supreme Court decision an attack on bodily autonomy and warned against dismissing its potential impact north of the border.

Many UCP leadership hopefuls and the Alberta government say a U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and allow individual states to ban abortion won’t affect their policy.

Advocates across the country on both sides of the issue have suggested the historic reversal could have a political impact in Canada, but Alberta’s Status of Women Associate Minister Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk noted in a Friday statement the legal status of abortion in Canada falls strictly within federal jurisdiction, and the American ruling doesn’t apply.

“There has been no change in policy in our province and none is proposed,” she said. Most of those running for UCP leadership who responded to Postmedia echoed that statement, promising no changes to abortion policy.

However, MLA for Chestermere-Strathmore Leela Aheer called the court decision an attack on bodily autonomy and warned against dismissing its potential impact north of the border.

“It’s an American decision, but the idea that that could not bleed into our system is ludicrous,” said Aheer, adding that Alberta has a lot of issues with access, particularly in rural areas, and she would work to extend women’s health care across the province.

Aheer said making statements that “there’s nothing to see here,” avoids discussion and debate instead of making progress.

“There is a will by people to try and see that laws are being created to create barriers to women’s reproductive rights,” she said.

Former transportation minister Rajan Sawhney noted it’s a federal matter.

“Having said that, my government will not make any legislative changes on abortion.”

Former children’s services minister Rebecca Schulz said she believes all women should have the freedom to choose and have access to the health-care services they need.

“Under a Schulz government this will not change,” she said.

MLA for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche Brian Jean said nothing about the ruling changed any law, regulation or rule in Alberta or Canada.

“Any politician or leftist activist who implies otherwise is simply trying to create divisions amongst Albertans.”

Former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith also said the decision has no bearing on what happens in Alberta or Canada.

“That said, I am pro-choice, and that includes supporting a person’s right to make choices on what to do with their own body, such as medical treatments and vaccines,” she said, promising to amend the Human Rights Act to protect against discrimination based on medical choices or political beliefs.

Former finance minister Travis Toews’ campaign pointed to comments made last week to Postmedia columnist Don Braid, when Toews said his personal views are “pro-life.”

“But, I have no intention or agenda on limiting access to health care with respect to abortion,” he said.

A new leader, and premier, will be elected on Oct. 6.

In Canada, abortion is decriminalized and publicly funded, but access to health services is left up to provinces and varies widely. Three facilities officially offer surgical procedures in Alberta, including one in Edmonton and two in Calgary.

Health Minister Jason Copping has previously noted that abortion pill Mifegymiso is available across the province, and that Alberta Health Services decides what services will be provided and where, based on demand.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said at a news conference from Calgary Friday the U.S. decision is “abhorrent,” and illustrates the need to fight for fundamental human rights and increase access to abortion in Alberta.

“Lives will be ruined as the result of this court decision, and make no mistake, people will die,” said Notley, adding anti-abortion groups are hard at work in Alberta and Canada.

“I am horrified, but we would also be naive to think that this is a ‘somewhere else’ problem,” she said.

Jeff Gunnarson, national president of the Campaign Life Coalition said in a Friday release the reversal of Roe v. Wade is encouraging.

“When life is winning in America, it is only a matter of time before life will be winning here in Canada too,” he said.

Melanie Anderson with the Alberta Society for the Promotion of Sexual Health said she anticipates a political impact.

“We also expect that there’s going to be a little bit more anti-choice activity up in Canada, they always seem to take the lead from the U.S.”

-With files from Dylan Short

lijohnson@postmedia.com

'It feels so good': Alberta MP celebrates overturning of Roe v. Wade

Sean Amato
CTV News Edmonton
Updated June 24, 2022

A Member of Parliament from rural Alberta went live on Facebook Friday to celebrate a United States Supreme Court vote to end constitutional protections for abortion.

Friday's overturning of Roe v. Wade is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half of American states.

Arnold Viersen, who represents Peace River-Westlock for the Conservative Party of Canada, titled his video "History in the making!"

"This is something that I know a lot of people have been praying for for a very long time, the overturn of Roe v. Wade," Viersen said.

"The pro-life movement in the United States has been working hard on this for generations and it feels so good to have a win."

The MP went on to call abortion in Canada the "greatest human rights tragedy of our time."

DIS AND MIS INFORMATION

"Three-hundred babies die everyday in Canada and this is something that is a terrible human rights tragedy," he said.

"People are coerced into having abortions. There should be no forced abortions in this country."

"I am disturbed by Roe Vs Wade being overturned. While I recognize there are strongly held beliefs on this issue, reproductive rights in Canada are non-negotiable," CPC leadership candidate Jean Charest tweeted.

"I am disappointed by Roe Vs Wade being overturned. Canadians have strongly held beliefs on this issue, but reproductive rights in Canada will not be revisited by any government that I lead," candidate Patrick Brown tweeted.

Another Conservative MP and candidate for leader, Dr. Leslyn Lewis, tweeted promises to ban "sex-selective" and "coerced" abortions, while encouraging respectful debate on the issue.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the court decision "horrific" and he promised to "always stand up for (a woman's) right to choose."

Viersen said he would be "on guard" for Liberal legislation reaffirming the legality of abortion in Canada.

With files from The Associated Press

Peace River-Westlock MP Arnold Viersen in a video posted on June 24, 2022 (Source: Facebook).

Sask. sexual health-care system unprepared for influx of Americans after 'heartbreaking' Roe v. Wade reversal

Amanda Short - Yesterday

© Provided by Star PhoenixRisa Payant, executive director of Planned Parenthood Regina, outside of her home on Friday, June 24, 2022 in Regina. TROY FLEECE / Regina Leader-Post

Reproductive and sexual health clinics across Canada have been engaged in discussions about the many what-ifs on the horizon if the Roe v. Wade decision was overturned in the United States.

One of the subjects has been the potential for an influx of Americans turning to their northern neighbour for abortion access.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 50-year-old ruling, removing constitutional protections on abortion and giving states the ability to set their own laws on access.

“It’s heartbreaking what’s happening in the United States; access to reproductive and sexual freedom is kind of a pillar of human rights,” said Planned Parenthood Regina executive director Risa Payant.

Clinics say that while the will is there to accept people and provide them care, they don’t have the capacity — and Saskatchewan is no different, Payant said.

Advocates say access to abortion is already a patchwork across the province . Meeting an even greater demand “is just unrealistic at this point, when we don’t have the capacity to support the needs of Saskatchewan residents,” Pavant said.

“The reality within Saskatchewan is that there are still pretty significant barriers to access to abortion.”

The court’s reversal is expected to lead to abortion bans in about half of the United States, including some states bordering Canada. North Dakota still has a pre-Roe anti-abortion law. Montana passed legislation regarding abortion in 2019 that’s currently barred by the U.S. Constitution.

Advocates say a person’s ability to access abortion in Saskatchewan depends on several factors, ranging from their location to the willingness of a practitioner or pharmacist .

Planned Parenthood’s physical location in Regina is already being closed as the organization searches for a new site, which only increases gaps in services — not only to abortion, but to other reproductive and sexual health care, Payant said.

Another major barrier is misinformation and stigma around abortion, both of which are likely to increase with the swell of conversation around abortion in North America.

“Here in our province, it’s really difficult for people to find the information they need about reproductive choice,” she said. “And so it is important for us to not just focus on legislation, but to focus on broader advocacy efforts, and really reducing the stigma around accessing what are very standardized and normal health-care services like abortion.”

When the decision first made headlines in the United States, Saskatchewan Minister Responsible for the Status of Women Laura Ross insisted that there are no roadblocks to accessing sexual health services like abortion in the province.

On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government will ensure women across Canada have access to sexual and reproductive health services.

Payant said she would like to see governments making sure health-care systems have enough resources to continue providing those services.

“If our health-care system can’t actually meet the demand, then it’s sort of false to say that having our rights means there’s no barriers to access to terminations, for example,” she said.

The reversal of Roe v. Wade “shows that the fight for reproductive rights is never over,” NDP Justice Critic Nicole Sarauer said in a media release.

“The same political forces determined to overturn hard-won reproductive rights in the United States also exist here in Canada.”

A statement from the provincial government said Saskatchewan will continue to follow the Canada Health Act.

“A US Supreme Court ruling has no legal impact on women’s reproductive rights in Canada,” it said.

Trudeau calls U.S. Roe v. Wade reversal of abortion rights 'horrific'

Anja Karadeglija - National Post - Yesterday

People protest after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, preparing for a majority of the court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, in New York City on May 3, 2022.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and allow individual states to ban abortion “horrific.”

“Today’s a difficult day,” he said Friday. “I think of those generations of women around the world and specifically in the United States, who fought so hard to gain rights and continue to fight today… and are facing this devastating setback.”

Trudeau reacted to the decision on Twitter and in a brief joint statement with Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly from Rwanda, where the two are meeting with representatives from other Commonwealth nations.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision, released Friday morning, overturns a ruling that had been in place for almost 50 years and ensured constitutional protections for abortion. It’s expected Friday’s reversal will lead to abortion bans in about half of the United States.

Joly said Friday was a “dark day for women in the United States and around the world,” and took aim at the Canadian Conservative party.

“No country in the world, including Canada, is immune to what’s going on in the United States,” she said.

“Even last year, the Conservatives voted in favour of reopening the debate on abortion in Canada,” Joly said, referring to a House of Commons vote last June where most of the Conservative caucus voted in favour of a bill banning sex-selective abortion.

Joly said “right now, as the Conservative leadership race is happening, candidates are shopping for anti-abortion votes.”

Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen said in a statement access to abortion “was not restricted under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and the Conservative party will not introduce legislation or reopen the abortion debate.”

She accused the Liberals of “importing issues from the U.S. in an attempt to wedge and divide Canadians.”

But even as most Conservative leadership contenders said Friday they were in favour of abortion rights in Canada, one of the candidates expressed support for some restrictions.

Leslyn Lewis said she was in favour of banning sex-selective abortions, “coerced abortions” and “ending abortion funding overseas.”

“Our party can decide whether we want to keep running from the Liberals or whether we are actually going to be a big-tent party of unity that can welcome all Canadians into our fold, allowing healthy discussions and productive conversations to take place,” she said in a blog post.

A spokesperson for Pierre Poilievre said he would not “introduce or pass any laws restricting abortion.”

Jean Charest said that though he recognizes “there are strongly held beliefs on this issue, reproductive rights in Canada are non-negotiable.” Both Patrick Brown and Scott Aitchison likewise said they supported a woman’s right to choose.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in a statement that these “dangerous policies that threaten women’s health and women’s lives must not be allowed to take root in Canada.” He called on the Liberals to do more to ensure access, noting it’s possible that women from the United States will now start coming to Canada for abortion services.

“It’s crucial that the government invests in women’s health care and expands access to ensure Canadians can get the help they need, when they need it,” he said.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association called the U.S. Supreme Court decision “an appalling step back in the ongoing struggle for equality,” warning that “the consequences for the health and dignity of women, girls and trans individuals who need abortions will be dire.”

The CCLA said most Canadians have access to abortion services through their provincial health care system, with the exception of New Brunswick, where 90 per cent of residents don’t have adequate access.

The New Brunswick government only funds surgical abortion services in three hospitals, located in two cities. The CCLA has launched a court challenge over lack of access in that province.

During last year’s federal election, the Liberals promised to update the Canada Health Act to regulate access to abortion services across the country, and said they would use federal health transfers to make sure provinces follow the new rules.

In his statement, Singh said while the Liberals “say the right things about being pro-choice,” the government needs to do more to make “the much-needed and long-overdue investments in women’s health care services.”

“There is so much more the government can do to ensure better access to health care services for women living in rural and remote communities,” he said.

Trudeau said Friday that “in Canada, we will always defend women’s rights to choose and continue to work to expand access to the full range of reproductive health and services across the country.”

Trudeau pledges to defend abortion rights around the world amid 'devastating setback'

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to defend abortion rights in Canada and around the world on Friday after what he called a "devastating setback" in the United States.

"Quite frankly, it's an attack on everyone's freedoms and rights," Trudeau said of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that guaranteed the right to abortion.

"It shows how much standing up and fighting for rights matters every day, that we can't take anything for granted," Trudeau said from the Commonwealth summit in Kigali, Rwanda.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, who joined Trudeau in Kigali, called it a "dark day" and warned the decision will have "a domino effect on other rights," adding that no country is immune and accusing Conservatives of "shopping for anti-abortion votes."

Trudeau did not take questions from reporters after making his statement.

Conservative interim leader Candice Bergen accused the Liberals of politicizing the abortion issue to create division.

She said in a written statement that her party's position on abortion has not changed and the Conservatives "will not introduce legislation or reopen the abortion debate."

Jean Charest, a candidate in the Tory leadership race, tweeted on Friday he was "disturbed" by the news. He said while he recognizes there are strongly held beliefs on the issue, "reproductive rights in Canada are non-negotiable."

Leslyn Lewis, another candidate who describes herself as "pro-life," tweeted on Friday that "Canada is not the U.S." She said she expects Canadians to be able to have adult conversations about the topic.

She said her position is that coercive and sex-selective abortions are wrong, and a Conservative party under her leadership would allow free votes for issues of conscience in the House of Commons.

A majority of Conservatives voted in favour of a private member's bill last year to outlaw sex-selective abortions, but the bill was defeated.

The party's other leadership candidates have either said that they support the right to choose an abortion or that they would not introduce legislation restricting it.

The Campaign Life Coalition, which holds an annual anti-abortion rally on Parliament Hill that attracts thousands and has supported Lewis's candidacy, put out a statement praising the court: "We thank God and heartily applaud this decision."

Reacting to the news on Friday morning, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said in a statement that "dangerous policies that threaten women's health and women's lives must not be allowed to take root in Canada."

He said the government needs to work harder to improve abortion access for women, especially in rural communities. "The Liberals say the right things about being pro-choice but that isn’t enough," he added.

The right to an abortion doesn't exist in Canada in the same way it was enshrined in Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that served as a rock-ribbed legal scaffold for reproductive rights champions around the world.

Abortion is decriminalized in Canada because of a 1988 Supreme Court decision, but no bill has ever been passed to enshrine access into law.

Though the decision is sending "shock waves" everywhere, the legal ability to have an abortion in Canada is not under threat, said Joyce Arthur, executive director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada.

But her organization is concerned about Americans coming north for abortion care and is advocating for federal and provincial governments to help clinics with more funding because, as Arthur puts it, "even a small number of Americans can overwhelm our system."

Later on Friday, Joly was asked whether the government would require provinces to provide access to late-term abortions, and if American women could have their abortions funded by Canada. She said they want to take "strong measures" towards better access.

"We will work with women's organizations across the country to listen to their needs and also work with provinces and territories," she said in Kigali.

Cara Zwibel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association noted that while most Canadians have access to abortion services through provincial health care, that is not true in New Brunswick. Publicly funded abortion services in that province have been restricted to three hospitals in two cities. The CCLA filed a case against the N.B. government that is making its way through courts.

Oxfam Canada executive director Lauren Ravon likewise reacted to the decision with concerns about the "enormous challenges" in abortion access for Canadian women who live in rural and remote areas, are in precarious housing situations or face intimate partner violence.

Social media was replete Friday with criticisms of the court's decision from Liberal and like-minded politicians, including a tweeted statement from Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland that said she was "shocked and horrified" and "abortion is a fundamental right."

But advocates such as Arthur have been hoping the government will start "putting their money where their mouth is."

In May, after a leaked copy of the U.S. Supreme Court's draft decision was obtained and published by Politico, the Liberal government announced it was spending $3.5 million on two projects to improve abortion access — part of a $45 million pot of money for sexual and reproductive health services they had announced in 2021.

At the time, Trudeau said his government was discussing how to make sure progress on reproductive rights is not reversed by future governments or court decisions, and that enshrining access to abortion with legislation could be one way to do that.

Liberals have made no major strides toward doing that, however, nor have they followed through on an election promise last fall to create Canada Health Act regulations that would penalize provinces for failing to provide access to sexual and reproductive health services.

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told reporters in May such mechanisms already exist, but his officials were looking at reinforcing them in the coming months.

Last year, the Liberal government confirmed it had withheld about $140,000 of New Brunswick's share of the federal health transfer because it does not fund abortions provided at a clinic in Fredericton.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2022.

— With files from Laura Osman in Kigali, Rwanda.

Marie-Danielle Smith, The Canadian Press

Behind the wave of state abortion bans, there are a lot of men

ngaudiano@insider.com

(Nicole Gaudiano,Esther Kaplan,Taylor Tyson,Annie Fu,Skye Gould) - Yesterday

84% of lawmakers who sponsored state "trigger laws" banning abortion are men.

The laws had zero women sponsors in four states; 12 of the 13 governors who signed them into law are men.

91% of US senators who voted to confirm Supreme Court justices in the anti-Roe majority are men.

This story is part of an investigative series from Insider examining the demise of abortion rights in so-called "trigger law" states. It was originally published on May 10, 45 days before the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that abortion is no longer a constitutionally protected right. Read all the stories from "The First 13" here.

The Supreme Court on Friday overturned the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that established the constitutional right to an abortion.

The opinion in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization threw out the ruling as the nation's highest court sided with Mississippi and other states, which passed restrictive anti-abortion laws.

Immediately after Friday's ruling, politicians on both sides of the aisle issued statements — with Republicans praising the Supreme Court and Democrats slamming the decision.

Over a dozen states have "trigger laws" meant to ban abortion immediately upon the overturning of Roe, as the legality of abortion is now left up to state legislatures.
Read the original article on Business Insider

What does it take to dismantle nearly 50 years of abortion rights for women? Hundreds of powerful men.

A look at the players behind a likely imminent wave of abortion bans reveals a stark lack of gender diversity that extends beyond the mostly male Supreme Court justices expected to strike down Roe v. Wade and the 91% male US senators who voted to confirm them.

A total of 444 state legislators served as lead sponsor or cosponsor of abortion bans in 13 states that take effect as soon as the high court overturns the landmark decision. They're predominantly men, too — 84%.

In fact, four of these so-called "trigger laws" — in Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, and Oklahoma — had zero women sponsors or co-sponsors. Of the 13 governors who signed them into law, 12 are Republican men. Yet the language in these laws specifically targets women.

The vast majority of political players behind these bans were also Republicans, including 89% of bill sponsors. All of the anti-Roe justices were nominated by Republican men and 94% of the senators who voted to confirm the justices were Republican.

Jenny Chang-Rodriguez, Alex Ford, Marianne Ayala, and Shayanne Gal contributed to this story.

How Abortion Decisions Could Impact IVF, According To A Fertility Doctor Who’s Done It

Courtney Shea - Yesterday

Welcome to Refinery29’s Fertility Diaries, where people chronicle their joyous, painful, and sometimes complicated paths to parenthood. Today, we hear from Roohi Jeelani, MD, FACOG, a 39-year-old reproductive endocrinologist in Chicago, IL.

Here, Dr. Jeelani shares her story of going through fertility treatments as a fertility doctor, and her thoughts on the leaked Supreme Court draft document that would overturn Roe v. Wade, and, in many states, criminalize the discarding of frozen embryos.

Working as a fertility specialist, babies are what I do. In my profession, we are always paying close attention to changes around reproductive healthcare: what states are anti-abortion, new regulations around birth control, and so on. Even still, I was stunned the day of the Supreme Court draft opinion leak. For the majority of my life, reproductive rights felt immutable, and now here we are. I want to say that I am still hopeful that this won’t happen — that the outrage will have an impact and Roe v. Wade will stand. But given the work I do, I have to prepare for a worst-case scenario. And that scenario is terrifying.

Within an hour of the leak, I was getting calls from patients asking what this means or could mean for their embryos. Should they consider pausing in vitro fertilization [IVF] treatments? If Roe v. Wade does get overturned, abortion would be outlawed in more than 20 states. Thirteen states currently have trigger laws in place, many of which include language that defines life as beginning at the moment of fertilization. Other states aren’t even waiting, using “vigilante laws” like S.B. 8 in Texas to get around the courts. In Oklahoma, for example, the governor just signed a bill into law that defines life as beginning at the moment of fertilization (“the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum”). This seems to give a frozen embryo in a lab the same “personhood” as a 30-week-old fetus. The state is circumventing what are still federally protected abortion rights by empowering private citizens to sue a doctor, or anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion, including someone driving a pregnant person to a clinic. The pregnant person can’t be sued, but, of course, that could change. [Editor’s note: The legislator who initially sponsored the Oklahoma bill that’s now law told Politico Nightly that they didn’t discuss the fertility treatment IVF in regards to the bill, and that Republicans in the state currently don’t have interest in limiting IVF. This may not be the case in other states in the future, though.]

Just to clarify, if it eventually becomes illegal to discard frozen embryos, so much of the amazing advancement we have made around in vitro fertilization goes out the window. Treatments are essentially a numbers game — a certain amount of superfluous material (i.e., frozen embryos that don’t get used) is part of the equation for success. When we do a round of IVF, we retrieve as many eggs as possible. Even if the person is just wanting to have one child, you never know how many quality eggs you will end up with, and then, how many viable frozen embryos (fertilized eggs) will come from that. Statistically, we say it takes three quality embryos to result in a live birth, but the reality is that every individual is different. Freezing extra embryos means that if a first — or second or third or eighth — attempt is not successful, we can try again without having to go through another round of IVF, which is physically and emotionally draining and may not even be an option depending on age. IVF is also incredibly expensive in states that don’t have coverage — at least $10,000 per round on the low end — and that is true whether you are creating a single embryo or 10.

The problem is, if new laws come into play and are implemented to criminalize IVF, they would punish anyone disposing of any “leftovers” (or even donating them to science, which is another option). Both the clinician who is performing the procedure and the patient who has their eggs frozen could someday face legal ramifications. That’s not a road most people would want to go down, but the only alternative — creating a single embryo per round of IVF — would make fertility treatments less effective, less safe (for mother and baby because the likelihood of miscarriage would become far greater, and due to laws’ potential implications on genetic testing), less affordable, and largely unviable for women who are fighting against the clock, which is something I know about first hand.

I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome when I was 14 years old. My mom was concerned because I wasn’t getting my period. We went to one specialist after another who said I probably had an eating disorder, that I just needed to gain weight, which was so frustrating because I knew that wasn’t the case. Finally, my uncle suggested that I should see a reproductive endocrinologist, which was a turning point for me in so many ways. I got my diagnosis, yes, but even before that, I remember sitting in the waiting room and feeling overwhelmed by the joy and intensity in the space. Even before the doctor asked me about my health, I asked her, What is this place? What do you do? I still remember her answer perfectly: “I’m a fertility doctor, I help to make babies.” From that moment on, I knew what I wanted to do. I went to med school and launched my private practice in 2016.

By that time, I had already dealt with my own reproductive challenges. My husband and I met at school and we were already trying to get pregnant when I was a resident. I did a round of IVF in 2010 and experienced recurrent miscarriages before finally giving birth to my son in 2013. Even though this is what I do, being on the other side of infertility was an emotional rollercoaster. I was just about to start a second round of IVF when we found out that I was pregnant with my daughter in 2015 — a shock, of course, and a joy. I banked embryos again in 2017 and was ready to start implantation in 2020. I had seven viable embryos and none of them worked, which meant another round of IVF and, finally, success. I am currently 32 weeks pregnant — hurray! — but it took an additional seven implantations to get here.

To say my journey to motherhood would not be possible if new laws take effect goes without saying. But I will say it to anyone who will listen because it is so important that we fight to preserve the progress we have made and to protect the bodily autonomy of people who require fertility assistance. I say this as a pregnant person and a doctor. I am lucky to practice in Illinois, but I know that in some of the more conservative parts of the country people are being advised to move their embryos now, just to be safe.

There is a bitter irony to watching this group of politicians argue for the “sanctity of life,” meanwhile these new laws could mean the exact opposite in my field. I’m a fertility doctor. I help to make babies. Babies for people who desperately want to be pregnant. What kind of backwards reality are we living in that would deny me the ability to do what I do?

As told to Courtney Shea.

This interview has been condensed for length and clarity.

NPR’s Nina Totenberg says Supreme Court 'spent all its political capital,' expansion now possible

Cami Mondeaux - Yesterday

© Provided by Washington ExaminerNPR’s Nina Totenberg says Supreme Court 'spent all its political capital,' expansion now possible

Longtime Supreme Court reporter Nina Totenberg responded to the high court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade on Friday, noting the resulting outrage may lead to increased efforts to expand the number of justices.

The idea of expanding the Supreme Court has long been at the center of debate between Republicans and Democrats but has never gained enough traction to clear Congress. However, Totenberg, a legal affairs correspondent for NPR, said that may change with the country’s shifting perceptions of the Supreme Court, spurred into overdrive by the big abortion ruling that just took place.

END THE FILIBUSTER AND EXPAND THE SUPREME COURT, LIBERAL LAWMAKERS SAY AFTER DOBBS

"In this decision, the court spent all its political capital,” Totenberg said. "The idea of adding Supreme Court justices, which I thought didn't have a leg to stand on, I think at some point may have traction."

The Constitution grants Congress the authority to change the size of the Supreme Court, and lawmakers have done so six times before — settling at the current number of nine justices in 1869. Several liberal lawmakers renewed calls to expand the court, pejoratively called "packing the court" by critics, and codify abortion rights after the Supreme Court released its decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on Friday, which reversed Roe and ended nationwide access to abortion.

“Overturning Roe v. Wade and denying women the right to control their own bodies is an outrage and in defiance of what the American people want,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in a tweet. “Democrats must now end the filibuster in the Senate, codify Roe v. Wade, and once again make abortion legal and safe.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who has long advocated adding additional justices to the court, told CNN she stands by that call.

“Not only should we look at expanding the Supreme Court, but I think we need to acknowledge that the Supreme Court of the United States has very few checks and balances,” she said.

The ruling also renewed calls to end the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster, which would enable senators in a Democratic-controlled chamber to pass more liberal policy goals despite slim majorities, or to expand the Supreme Court, a move that proponents argue would counteract a conservative high court stacked with three of former President Donald Trump’s picks.

What The Green Scarf Means In The Fight For Reproductive Rights

Frances Solá-Santiago - Yesterday

Roe v. Wade has been overturned. As activists across the country rally to protest, a new symbol has emerged in the fight for abortion rights: the green scarf.

Over the past few months, following the release of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion in early May that revealed that Roe v. Wade would likely be overturned, activists held protests that called for attendees to “bring your green bandana,” with many sporting green scarves on their wrists and necks.

While the green scarf may be the new symbol of the pro-abortion fight in the U.S, it’s been around for at least a decade. In fact, it emerged in Argentina in the late 2010s, as the country’s activists fought to decriminalize abortion in a sweeping movement that earned them the title “Marea Verde” or “Green Wave.”

Demonstrators march during the abortion rights rally in reaction to the leak of the US Supreme Court draft abortion ruling on May 14, 2022 in Brooklyn, New York. – Thousands of activists are participating in a national day of action calling for safe and legal access to abortion. The nationwide demonstrations are a response to leaked draft opinion showing the US Supreme Court’s conservative majority is considering overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling guaranteeing abortion access.

(Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP)

What is the history of the green scarf at protests?

When the Campaña Nacional por el Derecho al Aborto (National Campaign For the Right To Abortion), which was first launched in 2005, started to organize, to push for the decriminalization of abortion in Argentina, they looked back at the “Madres de Plaza de Mayo” (“Mothers of Plaza de Mayo”), grandmothers and mothers who wore white scarves and protested the disappearance of almost 30,000 people under the dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla in the ‘70s. (The Campaña Nacional por el Derecho al Aborto in Argentina did not respond to requests for an interview.) “They selected green as the color of health and hope,” says Mariana Ardila, a Colombia-based managing attorney at Women’s Link Worldwide.

The movement started gaining momentum in 2015 when the #NiUnaMenos (Not One Woman Less) went viral demanding lawmakers enact policy to protect women amid an alarmingly high rate of femicides in the country. Three years later, the “Marea Verde” formed, after millions of activists, many wearing green scarves, marched in the streets of Argentina to support the legalization of abortion. “[The green scarf] slowly started showing up in other countries in the Latin American region, and it’s now a symbol in the fight for reproductive rights,” says Ardila.
What has the “green wave” accomplished in the past?

The sight of throngs of people wearing green made a visual statement, but it also propelled progress in reproductive rights across South America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. By 2020, Argentina legalized abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. In Colombia, abortion became legal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy in 2022. (That said, five countries in Latin America still have a complete ban on abortion, including Dominican Republic, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.)

As the green scarf made its way from country to country, the symbol has also stirred controversies. In 2019, an artist in Argentina showed a sculpture of a Virgin Mary with the green scarf covering her neck and mouth, inciting opposition from citizens who asked the museum’s curator to remove the piece from the government-sponsored art center in Buenos Aires. That same year, Puerto Rico Senator Maria de Lourdes Santiago claimed that Senate officials were interfering with the First Amendment when they asked activists — who sat in public hearings regarding abortion legislation, wearing the green scarf — to leave the room. Meanwhile, in 2019, Mexican senator Lilly Téllez called the piece of cloth a symbol of “death” in front of green scarf-clad colleagues in the Senate. (The office of Senator Lilly Téllez has not responded to a request for comment from Refinery29.)

What does the green scarf mean at protests in the United States?

Now, the green scarf has made its way from the protests on the streets to the United States Congress. Last week, New York Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez wore the symbol around her neck when she joined other Democratic members of the House to march to the Senate, ahead of the latest effort to protect Roe v. Wade, which didn’t pass.

“I wanted to send a message to women across the U.S. and Latin America marching together with the same goal in mind: protecting our right to choose. The plight is the same, that safe, legal, and accessible abortions is a fundamental right for women,” Velazquez said via email. “I specifically want to relay the message to women of all ages across the world who might be scared by what they are seeing in the United States, that we stand firm behind a woman’s right to choose what happens to their body and I will keep marching because we will never go back.”

Velazquez said she first learned about the “Green Wave” in 2019, when she was following the fight for abortion rights in Argentina, and has since witnessed how the wave has spread across Latin America and the Caribbean. “Even on my home island of Puerto Rico, the movement is expanding and growing in strength, thanks to the strong advocacy of young women,” she says.

Velazquez recognizes that the work in Latin America is inspiring a new generation of activists in the United States. “The work that has been done by tireless advocates throughout Latin America is sparking waves of progress on women’s access to reproductive health care throughout the globe,” says Velazquez. “If the United States wants to remain a leader on the world stage, we cannot marginalize women by allowing Roe v. Wade to fall and banning access to a safe abortion.”

As protests across the United States continue, the green scarf will not only serve as a symbol of resistance but transnational solidarity between the Americas. Together, we fight.