The second wave of feminism brought “personal issues” to the forefront of people's minds and started conversations about social change in North American Society. This also brought the first conversations about women's issues out of the public sphere and into the public eye, especially how differences in social location impact issues such as the “right to chose” (Biklen). In Canada, through the 1970s until the 1990s, the cases of R v Morgentaler were fought on the bases of women's rights to abortions, most significantly being the case from 1988. Morgentaler came out in favour of the right to choose in the 1970s; opening abortion clinics to provide illegal yet safe abortions to women unable to otherwise (Sethna). They were able to bring the fight to the Supreme Court, and a majority decision was made that found that section 251 of the Criminal Code impeded on women's charter rights - leading the striking down of the section. Prior to the landmark decision of R v. Morgentaler,…show more content… as causing undue emotional and physical pain to the affected women as well as interfering with her own priorities and aspirations (Lessard). These are explicit symptoms of the hardship unduly placed on marginalized women as a result of the provisions, however, one of the more implicit barriers is financial. Women of higher socioeconomic status had more options, as many would travel elsewhere to get abortions, even traveling abroad (Sethna). Marginalized women were often unable to find the money to take transportation to urban centres in order to visit a hospital that would provide a chance to obtain the abortion; as these were primarily located in urban areas (Sethna). Marginalized women were disproportionately affected by these financial and legal burdens leaving them with very few and very difficult
