Abortion-rights activists rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court, in Washington, on April 2.Jose Luis Magana/The Associated Press
She is seen as an online rock star in the realm of women’s health, and now Dr. Jen Gunter says she is planning to leave the United States and move back home to Canada amid rising tensions around reproductive rights.
The best-selling author and gynecologist shared an interview on her Instagram account on Tuesday that she conducted with her hometown paper, the Winnipeg Free Press, on her plans.
Dr. Gunter has previously discussed intentions to return to Canada but she made clear her upcoming departure is taking place at a time of heightened concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump. In her social media post, she wrote everyone is “one bad election away from fascism.”
The Globe and Mail has reached out to Dr. Gunter for further comment.
Medical professionals who live in the U.S. have been increasingly eyeing moves to Canada amid their own concerns about the American political landscape, fuelled by Mr. Trump. There is growing optimism among Canadian medical associations and provincial governments that an influx of health professionals could help boost the country’s beleaguered health work force.
In a January post on her blog The Vajenda, Dr. Gunter wrote a piece entitled “Trump Dismantles Healthcare in Real-Time.” In it, she described how health is a political issue and raised concerns about the Trump administration’s approach to restricting communications from the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
She questioned if individuals will be able to rely on data to accurately report on outbreaks, abortion, contraception or vaccines.
“Am I overreacting? People said I was about abortion, and now we don’t have the protection of Roe, and it’s illegal in 12 states and severely restricted in many more, and maternal mortality is on the rise,” she wrote.
It is a particularly sensitive time for the reproductive rights movement while 19 U.S. states have abortion bans or restrictions in place. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that made abortion a constitutionally protected right for almost half a century.
In her Instagram post, Dr. Gunter said the issue of abortion amounts to being a canary in the coal mine, a phrase often used about an early indicator of danger. Misogyny is an “essential element of fascism,” she said.
She also pointed to political efforts by Conservatives to curtail abortion in Canada.
Last year, Alberta Conservative MP Arnold Viersen put forward a petition to call upon the federal government to “create/strengthen abortion regulation nationwide.” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said he does not intend to support any legislation that would restrict abortion rights.
In a March social media video, Dr. Gunter said as an educated physician, she cannot support the party in the upcoming vote on April 28. (Canadian citizens who live abroad can participate in elections in Canada.)
In early March, Dr. Gunter met with then-prime minister Justin Trudeau and other women’s advocates for International Women’s Day.
Dr. Gunter was born and raised in Winnipeg and went on to graduate from the University of Manitoba School of Medicine in 1990. Five years later, she completed her training for obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Western Ontario in London. She then moved to the U.S. to complete a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Kansas.
Her biography on her website says she has been called “Twitter’s resident gynecologist, the Internet’s OB/GYN, and one of the fiercest advocates for women’s health.”
Dr. Gunter has also been outspoken about concerns that women’s health is being targeted by medical misinformation – a growing concern for gynecologists.
In a social media video last year, Dr. Gunter challenged individuals who discuss “post-birth control pill syndrome” online and who make claims, which she said are not supported in medical literature, about symptoms such as headaches and acne arising after individuals stop taking the birth control pill.