A documentary on access to abortions will be screened at Saint John High School this weekend.
‘Trapped’ follows the clinic workers and lawyers fighting to keep abortion safe and legal for millions of American women, in the face of sweeping restrictions that have limited access to abortion in many states since 2010.
Organizer Raven Blue says he sees a lot of parallels between abortion access in New Brunswick.
“They’re not really affordable. There’s limits to access and transportation and getting funds for abortions, they’re not necessarily covered by Medicare,” he said in an interview.
Blue says he wanted to do something in response to last month’s ‘Unplanned’ screening at Saint John High, which drew a lot of backlash from the community, including a protest that Blue attended.
“I guess the short version is I was pissed off. I’m a parent, and I have a 16 year old daughter who attends high school and a 25 year old daughter. There were a number of people who attended the protest, and I ran it by them and said what do you think? People thought this was an appropriate response,” he said.
He says ‘Trapped’ offers a more educated, informed approach to the issue of abortion rights.
“It (Unplanned) had a lot of misleading statements. We decided the best thing to do would be to show a film that actually showed more factual information around what happens when there are more restrictions on access to safe and legal abortions,” he said.
The documentary will be screened this Saturday at 7 P.M.
Tickets for adults are $10, but students can get in for free.
Blue says one dollar from every ticket will go toward Clinic 554 in Fredericton, one of the only private abortion clinics in the province.