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ISBN: 9781773635149-05

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Parenting in Prison

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From: Abortion to Abolition

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This chapter looks at reproductive justice, the Canadian justice system, prisoner rights, and abolition. The author outline how the prison system violates reproductive justice in every possible way as a system that puts bodily autonomy under constant threat, withholds health care, and violates the right to parent or to choose to have or not have children. This chapter begins with the story of Emily Boyle, who went to federal prison twice, in the 1920s and 1930s, and who advocated to keep her baby with her each time she was pregnant and was successful only once. The next three stories in this chapter, centring the experiences of Indigenous women Renee Acoby, Lisa Whitford and Amanda Inglis, explain and critique the federal and provincial programs, exposing the egregious and incessant violations of the reproductive rights of Indigenous people in Canada within the prison system. The final story is about Julie Bilotta, who was ignored, insulted and isolated in labour, giving birth in a filthy jail cell in Ottawa in 2012, leading to emergency treatment for herself and for her baby, and ultimately to the death of her baby at only thirteen months old.

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Martha Paynter

Martha Paynter is a registered nurse providing abortion and postpartum care in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The founder and chair of Wellness Within: An Organization for Health and Justice, and a doctoral candidate at the Dalhousie University School of Nursing, Martha has 20 years of experience working to advance gender health equity. Her practice, teaching and research focus on the intersection of reproductive health and the justice system. A frequent contributor to Briarpatch, CBC, the Coast, the Conversation, the Halifax Examiner, and Saltwire, Martha writes about publicly-funded health care, prison abolition, and gender equity.