In a country where family doctors can now prescribe the abortion pill, abortion clinics are looking for new marketing strategies to help them keep clients. A recent CBC article shares the perspective of abortion advocates who say they need to retake the abortion narrative by using the word “abortion” more freely. They decry the euphemisms used for abortion, such as “women’s health” and “reproductive rights.”
Martha Paynter, an assistant professor in the faculty of nursing at the University of New Brunswick, believes access to abortion should be inclusive and direct. She thinks this includes renaming clinics that provide abortion to ensure they’re easy to find. But is ease of access the primary concern, or the bottom line of abortion clinics? Some clinics are seeing a decline in clients now that primary-care physicians can prescribe abortion pills. She notes that many clinics also offer pap smears, fertility workups, and other care as, in this market, “it’s important for abortion clinics to diversify.”
While some doctors genuinely believe their abortion services help women, abortion clinics have never had women’s best interests at heart. Paynter acknowledges that “while abortion is a decision, it really doesn’t feel like a choice to most people who are receiving one.” This is the problem – abortion activists have no better solution, or at least not the energy to pursue one, so they promote abortion. Renaming abortion clinics and reducing stigma around abortion are not solutions that benefit either women or children in the long-term.