Media
'Abortion is health care, it’s a human right': Local abortion activist
CTV News London, June 24, 2022Television
Cuts to health care, geography limit abortion access in Canada: Advocate
CTV's Your Morning, June 27, 2022Television
Standing 4 Choice in Southwestern Ontario
Pechakucha London Ontario, Vol. 7, September 20, 2018Television
URL: https://www.pechakucha.com/presentations/standing-4-choice-in-southwestern-ontario
Abortion has been legal in Canada for thirty years. Despite what many Canadians may think, people in our communities work tirelessly to access this normal part of reproductive health care. In Robyn Schwarz's presentation, we will examine the barriers that still exist for Londoners looking to get an abortion.
King's University College screening controversial anti-abortion film
CTV London, January 9, 2020Television
Fanshawe College, June 30, 2022Radio/Podcast
URL: https://theinterrobang.podbean.com/e/episode-76-abortion-rights-advocate-robyn-schwarz/
Blueprints of DisruptionRadio/Podcast
URL: https://blueprints-of-disruption.captivate.fm/episode/reproductive-justice-the-canadian-situation
History Slam PodcastRadio/Podcast
URL: https://activehistory.ca/2022/06/history-slam-220-canadas-abortion-history/
Craig Needles Podcast, May 5, 2022Radio/Podcast
The United States Supreme Court is getting ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a leaked draft opinion – once against bringing abortion rights to the forefront of the American political landscape.
Could that impact the Ontario election? Will Progressive Conservative MPP Sam Oosterhoff, who is on the record as being firmly anti-abortion, become a major figure in the campaign?
Reproductive justice advocate Robyn Schwarz joins the podcast to share her thoughts.
The Bill Kelly Show - Global News RadioRadio/Podcast
URL: https://omny.fm/shows/bill-kelly-show/a-battle-in-london-against-graphic-abortion-images
Activists and local groups in London are fighting against a Calgary based group that has been displaying graphic images of abortion and distributing them.
Guest: Robyn Schwarz, Co-founder, Pro Choice London
The Craig Needles Show - AM 980 Global News, June 27, 2019Radio/Podcast
AM 980, July 12, 2019Radio/Podcast
URL: https://omny.fm/shows/the-craig-needles-show/robyn-schwarz-co-founder-of-pro-choice-london
The Craig Needles Show - AM980 Global News, January 13, 2020Radio/Podcast
URL: https://omny.fm/shows/the-craig-needles-show/a-soggy-weekend-raises-flooding-concerns-in-london
It’s well past time for equity in services in Cambridge, Waterloo Region
Waterloo Region Record, May 18, 2023Print
Women with ADHD deserve better
Cambridge Times, March 15, 2023Print
Primary care providers must work to close the gender gap in Waterloo Region, writes Robyn Schwarz
Colorado’s Abortion Ban Would Have a Lasting Impact Across the Border
Rewire Newsgroup, October 29, 2020Print
"Canadians who travel to the United States for abortion care will be deeply impacted by Colorado's Proposition 115."
This commentary on the 2020 United Election examines how and why Canadians needing abortion care after 24 weeks must travel to the United States. It shows that restricting access in Colorado after 20 weeks would impact Canadians and thus argues for a no vote.
Choice on Campus: Reflections on Anti-Abortion Activism at Western University
The Activist Newsletter - Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, June 10, 2019Print
URL: https://www.arcc-cdac.ca/newsletters/The-Activist-special-eng.pdf
Pro-choice activists speaking out against anti-abortion ads on Hamilton buses
Hamilton Spectator, May 17, 2019Print
Controversial anti-abortion film, blocked in many cities, opening in London
London Free Press, July 10, 2019Print
Mental health remains a key workplace issue
Cambridge Chamber of CommerceOnline
URL: https://www.cambridgechamber.com/blog/mental-health-remains-a-key-workplace-issue.htm
A History of Abortion Rights in Canada and Their Future
The Maple, May 27, 2022Online
URL: https://www.readthemaple.com/a-guide-to-abortion-rights-in-canada/
Canadian women, activists watching U.S. abortion rights debate closely
CBC London, May 4, 2022Online
URL: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/us-abortion-debate-london-ontario-1.6440057
How Doug Ford's Government Reduces Abortion Access
The Maple, May 6, 2022Online
URL: https://www.readthemaple.com/how-the-ontario-government-can-impact-abortion-access/
“In some hospitals, decisions were made to cut a specific number of abortions in a day, or cut the number of times an obstetrician was in the community.”
Kitchener Centre can vote to support survivors
Inside WaterlooOnline
URL: https://insidewaterloo.ca/kitchener-centre-can-vote-to-support-survivors/
In the wake of accusations against MP Raj Saini, I wrote a piece for our local online publication about how Kitchener Centre residents can address gender based violence with their votes in the fall 2021 Federal election.
GRT removes controversial abortion 'reversal pill' ad
Local abortion app being used across Canada
Zeitspace, February 13, 2020Online
URL: https://www.zeitspace.com/blog/2020/02/local-abortion-app-being-used-across-canada/
Protest to be held at ‘Unplanned’ Friday night showing in London
Global News, July 12, 2019Online
URL: https://globalnews.ca/news/5487302/unplanned-movie-protest-london/
Women's Issues Network, Pro-Choice London run first-ever pro-choice booth in UCC
Western Gazette, April 3, 2018Online
Andrew Scheer and the Anti-Abortion Movement in Canada
Celebrating Canada: Commemorations, Anniversaries, and National Symbols
by Edited by Raymond B. Blake and Matthew Hayday
University of Toronto Press
February 15, 2018
My article, "A Continental Centennial: Situating Expo 67 within the Canadian-American Relationship," is published in this edited collection. This piece is based on the Masters Research Project I completed in 2013 for my MA in American Studies.
Then and Now: Celebrating 50 Years of the 1970 Abortion Caravan
by Jaime Nikolaou and Robyn Schwarz
Published by Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights
May 11, 2020
In May 1970, seventeen women set out on a cross-country trek from Vancouver to Ottawa to reject Canada’s criminal abortion law and demand legal reform. They stopped in cities and towns along the way, performing acts of guerilla theatre to show how women were suffering and dying from so-called “back-alley abortions”. When the Caravaners arrived in Ottawa and no government leaders would meet with them, they chained themselves to House of Commons’ gallery seats and shut down Parliament for the first time in Canadian history. Their actions mobilized vast public support that bolstered feminist battles in the courts and the streets in the ‘70s and ‘80s, which eventually decriminalized abortion in Canada.
On Mother’s Day weekend fifty years later—11 May 2020—a coalition of feminists marked the Caravan’s significance in Canadian history by embarking on a virtual “trek” of our own – a “2020 Abortion Caravan”, so to speak. Co-editors Jaime Nikolaou and Robyn Schwarz launched “Then and Now: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the 1970 Abortion Caravan” – a project comprised of a series of position papers that showcase how pro-choice organizing in Canada has evolved from 1970 onwards.
Biography
Robyn Schwarz is a non-profit professional, community leader, and feminist scholar. She has spent the last 4 years working in Waterloo Region doing grassroots communications, grant writing, and organizing work. She's been at the forefront of abortion rights organizing in Southwestern Ontario since 2016.
Schwarz transitioned from academia to the non-profit sector. She is PhD ABD in History at Western University. She holds a Masters of Arts in American Studies specializing in Canadian-American relations and Bachelor of Arts from UBC in Honours History and English.
Schwarz has always been an interdisciplinary scholar. Her recent ADHD diagnosis at age 33 explains both her love of history and inability to stick to one area of expertise. She works to make connections that other scholars overlook. Her broad research interests include women's history, feminism, welfare policy, health care, Canadian-American relations, and 20th Century Canada.
Her dissertation research project brings all of this together and looks at the welfare state and its relationship to the nuclear family ideal and liberalism from 1945 to present. She applies feminist theory from the Reproductive Justice movement to our understanding of Canada's past and works to show how political and social change led to the erosion of post-war promises to the working class. She hopes to be done by 2025, but is not going to promise anything since she puts her community's needs before herself.
Schwarz has built her reputation as a feminist commentator in both local and national media. She blends her academic background with real world experience working in non-profit management and grassroots communications. She has a decade of experience as an adult educator. She is a fierce advocate for patient-centered approaches to health care policy.
Additional Titles and Affiliations
Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights
Access Line Volunteer
National Abortion Federation Canada
Reproductive Activism and Abortion Research Network
Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History
Canadian Committee on Women's History - Comité canadien de l'histoire des femmes
Research Grants
Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship
Organization: Social Science and Humanities Research CouncilDate: September 1, 2015
Grant amount: $105,000
Details:
The Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) Doctoral Scholarships aims to develop research skills and assist in the training of highly qualified personnel by supporting students who demonstrate a high standard of scholarly achievement in undergraduate and graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities. This funding opportunity from the Canadian government aims to help train Canada’s researchers and leaders of tomorrow.
More information: http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/programs-programmes/fellowships/doctoral-doctorat-eng.aspx