Robyn Schwarz

Feminist Analysis and Advocacy, Dumbo Octopus Consulting

Abortion access, reproductive rights, Reproductive Justice, Ontario politics, Canadian history, post-1945 social and political change, health care policy, Canadian politics, feminism

Media

'Abortion is health care, it’s a human right': Local abortion activist

Cuts to health care, geography limit abortion access in Canada: Advocate

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

Craig Needles Podcast, May 5, 2022Radio/Podcast

URL: https://blackburnnews.com/london/london-news/2022/05/05/craig-needles-podcast-episode-57-wil-us-abortion-debate-impact-ontario-election/

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

It’s well past time for equity in services in Cambridge, Waterloo Region

Women with ADHD deserve better

Cambridge Times, March 15, 2023Print

URL: https://www.cambridgetimes.ca/opinion/women-with-adhd-deserve-better/article_0366b6ba-9ba1-5f7e-8adb-b2c9f7b1de58.html

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

URL: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/article/2020/10/29/colorados-abortion-ban-would-have-a-lasting-impact-across-the-border/

"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

Controversial anti-abortion film, blocked in many cities, opening in London

Mental health remains a key workplace issue

A History of Abortion Rights in Canada and Their Future

Canadian women, activists watching U.S. abortion rights debate closely

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

Protest to be held at ‘Unplanned’ Friday night showing in London

Women's Issues Network, Pro-Choice London run first-ever pro-choice booth in UCC

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.

URL: https://www.actioncanadashr.org/resources/reports-analysis/2020-05-12-1970-abortion-caravan-celebrating-50-years

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 Council
Date: 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

Expertise

  • care economy
  • history of women's labour
  • Women's Health
  • Feminism
  • Reproductive Rights
  • Abortion
  • Canadian History
  • Canadian Politics
  • Health Care Policy
  • Ontario Politics

Education/Éducation

  • Simon Fraser University
    Non-Profit Management
    Non-Profit Management Certificate, 2022
  • Western University
    History
    PhD

    ABD - I was part way through writing my dissertation, "To Be On Your Own: Single Mothers in Ontario, 1958-1982" when my program made a series of funding cuts that made it extremely difficult for me to continue without taking on a substantial debt load. I put PhD in on hiatus for my financial well being as my department failed to adequately work to support me.


  • Western University
    American Studies - Canadian American Relations
    Master of Arts, 2013
  • University of British Columbia
    Honours History, English
    Bachelor of Arts, 2012