This initiative is our response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the so-called United States, actions which have removed access to abortion services for many. Revoking the right to abortion is a direct attack on healthcare access, bodily autonomy and reproductive sovereignty, and these impacts are felt most deeply by the most marginalized members of our communities, including Indigenous people, people of colour, gender non-conforming folks, those of a lower socio-economic status, queer folks, and disabled individuals. This devastating legislative change has dangerous potential to impact the right to abortion in so-called Canada and other nation states.
Join the Society for Students with a Disability for our Panel for Reproductive Justice at this years SEXPO. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure reproductive equity is a reality for all folks in Canada. Our panelists generate meaningful conversation and encourage folks to explore how they are implicated in how marginalized populations are still left out of reproductive justice
Date: Thursday Feb 16th 2023
Time: 12:00pm to 2:00pm PST
Location: SUB Upper Lounge & ZOOM
This panel can be accessed online through ZOOM or in-person at the SUB Upper Lounge. The panel will have closed captioning and ASL interpreters. The SUB Upper Lounge is located on the ground level of the SUB and is accessible by stairs which are located through the west facing main entrance. The ramp entrance is located beside the UVSS Board of Directors offices down the hallway with rooms B106, B108 and B116. There is a large double door entrance located after the stairs and a single door entrance located after the ramp. The room has lots of natural light with large warm white coloured lights and several warm white coloured pot lights. Seating within the room is adjustable and can be altered if needed. Accessible washrooms with a lift and gender neutral washrooms are located close by. The SUB is a scent free space, but cannot guarantee adherence to this policy. Masks are recommended at the events hosted in this space. Masks and COVID tests will be available at all events. SEXPO strives to host inclusive and accessible events that engage all individuals fully. To request an accommodation or for further accessibility inquiries please contact uvicssd@uvic.ca.
Panelists
Simone Blais
Simone Blais is a dancer, doula, director and aspiring midwife. She holds a degree in Gender Studies and Indigenous Studies from the University of Victoria. Her work focuses on decolonizing the dance community and reproductive justice for marginalized communities. In the past 5 years, she has worked with the Nesting Doula Collective, and the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, delivering workshops about reproductive justice. She is also the director and producer of the documentary Dance Like Everybody’s Watching, which highlights the experiences of Black dancers in Victoria. Learn more: simone-blais.com
A.J. Lowik
A.J. Lowik is a researcher, instructor and consultant, whose work focuses on trans people’s reproductive lives and health. They earned their doctorate from UBC in 2021. A.J. has written extensively about menstruation, abortion, perinatal mental health, sterilization, and about how trans people navigate reproductive health care spaces and services. A.J. is a nonbinary person, a white settler, a queer liberationist, an unapologetic feminist, someone with lived experience of chronic and mental illness, and someone who loves knitting, jigsaw puzzles and cats. They try to bridge academia with activism in everything they do, always with the goal of making trans lives more livable.
Nafisa Rahman
Nafisa Rahman is a front-line community worker based in Scarborough, curious and interested in the intersections of sexual health, reproductive justice, and youth engagement. They currently work as an Access Line Navigator at Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights where they provide information about sexual health including pregnancy options, abortion, and safer sex as well as connect folks to the services they need. While they are interested in all facets of sexual and reproductive health, Nafisa is most passionate about supporting people in accessing abortion care. Over the years, they have worked with a number of community-based organizations including Planned Parenthood Toronto, Scarborough Civic Action Network, and student-led organizations such as Students for Barrier-Free Access and the Sexual Education Centre. Outside of work, Nafisa enjoys gaming, knitting, and jigsaw puzzles.
Kori Doty
Kori is a queerly gendered parent, caregiver and freelance community educator based in Lekwungen territories. They have worked in the field of community organizing, sexual health, harm reduction and supporting groups and individuals in visioning liberatory futures for many years, on and off, while also tending to the human needs of recovering from injuries and surgeries, gestating and parenting a small human, tending home and family in the face of cancer and chronic illnesses, fleeing violence and the other unexpected turns that punctuate this life. They are a student of the Institute for Somatic Sex Education and are passionate about bodies, pleasure, and imagining our ways past colonial mythologies of scarcity and disconnection. They descend from European settlers and walk through the world with access usually granted to white men; utilizing these privileges with integrity is a project that they try to approach with humility and nuance.
Organizers
Adrean Meuser
Adrean locates themselves as an uninvited queer settler with European ancestry and with lived experiences of disability and economic disadvantages. They do this work intentionally, and acknowledge that they hold tremendous privilege as a young person who got to decide to carry their child to term, and parent them as they see fit. Their guardianship of this child has never been questioned or threatened. Over a decade later, Adrean had access to a gender-affirming hysterectomy and acknowledges that the access to this type of surgery indicates their deep privilege within Canadian healthcare structures. Not only did Adrean have access to this life changing procedure, this does not limit Adrean’s capacity to grow their family – they are expecting their newest family member in April 2023 through a known-sperm donor agreement.
