The coat hanger was its graphic symbol of death, outrage and ultimately, a woman’s right to control her own body.

The “Abortion Caravan” rolled into Ottawa on Mother’s Day weekend in 1970, a convoy of young women — coat hangers and a black coffin in tow — who drew hundreds of supporters during their drive from Vancouver to make an unprecedented demand: unrestricted access to legal abortions.

“The adrenaline was flowing, we had a cause, we were strong,” says Yvonne Demalpas, who 40 years ago hopped on a bus in Toronto to join the caravaners in Ottawa.

“We felt we could make a difference.”

They did, shutting down Parliament for 30 minutes and laying the groundwork to strike abortion completely from the Criminal Code in 1988.

Now, decades later, those pioneering women fear their hard-fought gains might be jeopardized as the abortion debate reignites at home and abroad.

“I was appalled,” said Demalpas, referring to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s refusal to fund aid groups that might help provide abortions in developing countries.

“So many of us have fought for so long to keep abortion accessible. But I think when people haven’t had to face bad times, perhaps you slowly rest a little bit and you don’t keep fighting.”

In 1970, the Abortion Caravan planned a daring plot to push the issue from shameful silence into the national consciousness. The Vancouver trekkers held public meetings during stopovers en route to Ottawa, giving women a supportive forum in which to speak publicly for the first time.

Though it was known the caravan was coming to Ottawa, Canadians were shocked at the protestors’ bold action.

Hundreds of women rallied for two days at Parliament and some 50 disrupted the sitting House of Commons, chaining themselves to seats and chanting “free abortions on demand.” The Toronto Star reported on May 12, 1970 that one woman hurled a water bomb at the government benches before being rushed by security officers and marched from the building. Others had their chains removed by bolt-cutting guards and were heckled by onlookers as they were escorted from House.

At 24 Sussex Drive, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was burned in effigy. Demalpas was with the group who dumped the coffin at Trudeau’s door. The coffin represented pregnant women who’d died from back-alley procedures or their own horrific attempts with knitting needles or coat hangers.

The Star reported in 1970 that 2,000 Canadian women died annually from the 100,000 illegal abortions performed each year, and about 20,000 had to be hospitalized with post-abortion complications. As of 1969, limited legal abortions were performed only if a medical panel determined the mother’s health was at risk.

Jackie Larkin was a budding, 25-year-old Ottawa feminist who slipped her chain around a parliamentary chair leg with her sister protesters. She recalls that the late 1960s and early ’70s were an “opening up about all kinds of ways about thinking about the world.” The rise of feminism, she adds, was a catalyst for Canadian women to wrest control of their reproductive rights from the government.

“The abortion issue was important because it had been suppressed as an issue,” says Larkin, now a 65-year-old labour and health educator in Victoria. “It was something you didn’t talk about.

“But there was also the fundamental question of: Do you even have the right to control your own body?”

The pioneers now fear that decades of pushing for change may be eroded. Hospital cutbacks, hospital closures, little progress in making abortions available in rural areas and the pro-life push on governments by right-wing conservative groups worry Larkin.

“It pisses me off,” she says, referring to Harper for imposing his “political agenda” on foreign aid.

“It’s clear in the context of the world in which there’s a rising Christian fundamentalism, (and I think) the Harper government is extremely influenced by that.”

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Demalpas is concerned that women in their 20s and 30s take their freedoms for granted. She wonders if Canadians are aware of the great discrepancies in access to abortion in every province and the difficulties for those in rural areas, where enormous travel times and cost make it prohibitive.

“So many women’s groups have been shut down by non-funding (by government), I just see a slow reversal back to the bad old days for women,” says the retired union consultant.

“I’m not sure that young women know how bad it was or what went on or are aware of what they might lose.”

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