Researcher collects Maritime abortion stories for study

A university researcher is asking for participants to share their perspectives on the abortion debate in the Maritimes.

Katrina Ackerman, a PhD. history student from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, is studying abortion politics in the Maritime provinces during the 20th century.

Ackerman says she wants to figure out the factors that shape someone's position on the debate.

"Many people would argue that Nova Scotia has quite liberal access to abortion and then others would argue that Prince Edward Island has the least access in all of Canada. [I'm] just trying to do a comparative analysis of the three provinces to understand why the situation in Prince Edward Island was perhaps different than in New Brunswick or in Nova Scotia," she said.

P.E.I. is the only province in the country that does not provide local access to abortion. Since 1981, surgical abortions have not been performed on P.E.I. Island women must go to Halifax or Fredericton. The province still pays for abortions off island, but anyone wanting the procedure must travel.

Ackerman will spend the next couple of months interviewing people from across the Maritimes. She said she hopes to have her paper completed by 2014.