Katrina Ackerman

Contact Info

Research Interests

• Twentieth-century Canadian social and political history, with a particular focus on intergovernmental relations and the impact of social movement organizations and interest groups on public policy.

Short Bio

Dr. Ackerman has a strong record of publishing her research in academic and public forums to create public awareness and inform policy change. She is currently completing her manuscript, which examines the long-term impact of social movement organizations and interest groups on abortion politics in the Atlantic Provinces. Her other publications include a co-edited book on global abortion politics (Transcending Borders, 2017), and an award-winning article that examined how Prince Edward Island’s anti-abortion movement effectively blocked abortion access in the province (“In Defence of Reason,” 2014).

Courses Taught

HIST 201: Canada from Confederation to World War II

HIST 202: Canada from World War II to the Present

HIST 290AM: A History of Canadian Disasters

HIST 290AO: A Social History of North America through Film and Television

HIST 307: Social History of the ‘Sixties’ in North America

HIST 330: Women in Canadian History

Publications

Books

Transcending Borders: Abortion in the Past and Present. Edited by Shannon Stettner, Katrina Ackerman, Kristin Burnett, and Travis Hay. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan, 2017.

Articles and Book Chapters

 “‘Is Abortion Ever Right?’: The United Church of Canada and the Debate over Abortion Law Reform, 1960-1980.” In No Place for the State: The Origins and Legacies of the 1969 Omnibus Bill, edited by Christopher Dummitt and Christabelle Sethna. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2020. Co-authored with Bruce Douville and Shannon Stettner.

 “‘The Public Is Not Ready for This’: 1969 and the Long Road to Abortion Access.” Canadian Historical Review 100, 2 (June 2019): 239-256. Co-authored with Shannon Stettner.

“The ‘dark’ and ‘well-kept secret’: Women’s Abortion Experiences in the Maritime Provinces, 1969-1988.” In Abortion: History, Politics, and Reproductive Justice after Morgentaler, edited by Shannon Stettner, Kristin Burnett, and Travis Hay. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017.

“In Defence of Reason: Religion, Science, and the Prince Edward Island Anti-Abortion Movement, 1969-1988.” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 31, 2 (Winter 2014): 117-138. 

•  Awarded Hilda Neatby Prize in Women’s and Gender History for Best English-Language Article Written in Women’s and Gender History in Canada, Canadian Committee in Women’s History, Canadian Historical Association.

“Choice, Interrupted: Travel and Inequality of Access to Abortion Services since the 1960s.” Labour/Le Travail 71 (Spring 2013): 29–48. Co-authored with Christabelle Sethna, Beth Palmer, and Nancy Janovicek.

“‘Not in the Atlantic Provinces’: The Abortion Debate in New Brunswick, 1980-1987.” Acadiensis 41, 1 (Winter/Spring 2012): 75-101.