At the University of Manitoba (UM), springtime brings warmer weather, the return of the geese, final exam stress, and the inevitable return of anti-abortion groups on campus. With their volunteer base temporarily bolstered by high school students participating in “Pro-Life Bootcamps,” representatives from the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform (CCBR) (this link contains graphic imagery) appear in front of UM’s central student building holding five-foot-tall posters plastered with misleading and graphic images of allegedly aborted fetuses. A variation of this scene is repeated on campuses across Canada, including at the University of Toronto.
The CCBR frequents university campuses seeking to “inform” students of the supposed harms of this essential form of healthcare. These activities occur under the watchful eye of CCBR leaders, who discreetly film interactions with students, faculty, and staff. These anti-abortion groups do not merely express controversial opinions but spread disinformation that targets young people and jeopardizes their access to accurate healthcare knowledge. Their presence on campus disrupts community life, forces some students to take alternate routes to classes (or avoid attending at all), fuels harassment, and misrepresents established medical facts, all while displaying incredibly large, graphic, and traumatizing imagery.
The presence of the CCBR on university campuses is not without warning or permission. At UM, the CCBR submits a request to university administration, informing them of the days and general times that the group plans to be present on campus, while supposedly agreeing to be compliant with the institutions’ terms and conditions. When permission is granted for the group to be on campus, including permission to film, directives are given by administration to campus security services to be present, increasing the securitization of the campus.
Administration also requires that university-created signs be placed around the site, warning the campus community of the use of graphic images to be on display and emphasizing the University’s Respectful Work and Learning Environment policy. The UM administration also informs the University of Manitoba’s Student Union, who shares the information with the Women’s Centre student group who work to offer supports to students affected by the presence of anti-abortion groups. It is these student groups who take on the labour of addressing the group’s tactics by organizing counter-protests.
The spread of gendered disinformation and graphic imagery
Anti-abortion groups rely on emotional manipulation rather than fact-based discourse. Just like other anti-abortion advocacy groups, CCBR’s use of gendered disinformation is rife. Abortion disinformation is inherently gendered, as it disproportionately targets women, trans, and gender-diverse folks, attempting to intimidate, harm, and limit freedoms.
For instance, the CCBR perpetuates the idea (this link contains graphic imagery) that those who have accessed abortion care will suffer severe psychological trauma afterwards. This assertion is misleading and ignores the fact that major medical organizations have found no causal link between abortion and long-term mental health issues. Rather, the actual denial of abortion care has been shown to have a negative impact on mental health, children, and families. Moreover, in April 2025, representatives from CCBR were filmed at UM comparing abortion to slavery, as well as to genocide. These preposterous and unfounded claims point to a tactic that shares a great deal in common with genocidal processes, including exclusionary narratives, essentialism, and totalization.
CCBR’s own website (this link contains graphic imagery) admits that their graphic images are meant to shock and offend people, reinforcing the notion that they are engaging in emotional provocation rather than education. They acknowledge that their materials are likely painful for anybody who witnesses them, causing profound harm to different population groups with different lived experiences. By their own admission, the CCBR knowingly causes distress under the guise of advocacy and education, while co-opting the human rights discourse to justify their message.
The images used by anti-abortion groups are frequently misleading or doctored, rather than presentations of factual information. Many of the graphic photos that anti-abortion groups display, including those used by the CCBR, have been debunked by academics and medical professionals as misrepresentations of actual abortion procedures. Some images are heavily edited, while others depict stillbirths or miscarriages rather than legal abortions. There are also significant ethical questions at play, including how and where these images were sourced from.
Freedom of expression on university campuses
Across the country, an outright ban of anti-abortion groups on university campuses is complicated, with freedom of expression and freedom of assembly frequently cited as grounds for not taking action. Universities may fear legal challenges similar to those faced by other Canadian prairie universities that have taken a stance against anti-abortion groups, such as Brandon University and the University of Alberta. However, only in Alberta have the courts found university campuses to be obliged to meet the Charter. In other provinces, it is either unclear or courts have ruled that universities do not have to be compliant, such as the court ruling for the University of Victoria.
Courts have also ruled that while universities have some obligation to uphold the freedom of expression, they also have the right to regulate activities that disrupt campus life, create a hostile environment, or spread gendered disinformation under the guise of debate. Universities are meant to be spaces for academic inquiry, critical thinking, and informed debate, not a venue for outside organizations to manipulate and harass the student body. While freedom of expression is a fundamental right, it is not absolute, especially when it is being used to spread falsehoods. With rights comes the responsibility to ensure they are not exercised in ways that cause harm to others. The notion of free speech cannot be used as grounds to deceive, harass, or create an unsafe campus environment.
As Canadian universities continue to allow anti-abortion groups on campuses to spread gendered disinformation, they have at the same time worked to extend bubble zones and ban Palestinian solidarity movements from campus grounds, seeking to suppress protests and dissent around the issues of genocide and undermine academic freedom. This double standard when it comes to human rights on university campuses is problematic. Universities seem willing and able to control the supposed right to free speech by vetting the protests that occur on their campus, but this appears to be discretionary depending on the group and the human rights issue at hand.
Some universities have recognized the harm caused by gendered disinformation and have taken steps to regulate the presence of anti-abortion groups, such as the University of Victoria, Carleton University, and Brandon University. Institutions across the country, including the University of Manitoba, must follow suit by enforcing policies that protect students from psychological distress while still upholding the principle of free expression in a way that aligns with academic integrity. The right to free speech does not include the right to deceive, harass, or create an unsafe campus environment.
Reproductive justice is key to gender equity. University campuses must work to ensure that they are spaces for fact-based discourse, not a platform for gendered disinformation and harassment. This is particularly critical in the context of an increasingly anti-gender and anti-2SLGBTQIA+ political environment, the shrinking space for civil society actors, and patriarchal norms and power structures.
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