The Fireweed Project: Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Abortion
Date
2025
Authors
Magnus, Sabrina
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University Of Victoria
Abstract
The Fireweed Project is a research initiative headquartered at the University of Victoria in collaboration with four community organizations across Canada: Abortion Support Services Atlantic, ekw’í7tl Indigenous Doula Collective, Northern Reproductive Justice Network, and Northern Manitoba Abortion Support. This project seeks to understand the experiences of Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, and LGBTQIA+ community members in accessing abortion care and the perspectives of service providers, with the goal of identifying and addressing gaps in culturally safe services. Due to colonial policies and resulting systemic inequities, Indigenous Peoples in Canada continue to face significant barriers to reproductive healthcare, including geographical challenges, cost, lack of culturally safe services, and historical and ongoing reproductive coercion. My contribution to this project involved researching traditional plant medicines historically used as contraceptives and/or abortifacients and translating these plant names from English back into their original Indigenous language. Additionally, I assisted in knowledge translation by sharing research findings on social media to increase accessibility and awareness. By amplifying Indigenous perspectives and experiences, this research aims to inform policy changes and improve equitable and culturally safe access to abortion care for Indigenous women, Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ people.
Description
Keywords
abortion, Indigenous, Two-Spirit, reproductive justice, Fireweed, Doula