Recently published videos show the co-founder of a pro-life group posing as someone interested in accessing an abortion, including at a clinic in Toronto
TORONTO — One of the country’s leading pro-choice organizations is raising alarm about a new social media campaign it says is distorting public perception of abortion access in Canada.
Over the past 10 days, RightNow, a pro-life advocacy organization, has released a series of videos on social media showing the group’s co-founder, Alissa Golob, allegedly speaking with staff at four Canadian clinics in 2023 about getting an abortion.
In an interview with TorontoToday this week, Golob said she was not genuinely seeking an abortion two years ago, but secretly recorded video on her phone while at the clinics, aiming to show that “late-term” abortions happen in Canada and that such procedures aren’t reserved exclusively for women with medical complications.
Frederique Chabot, executive director of Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights (Planned Parenthood Canada), said the published videos use “American tactics” designed to suggest that abortion in Canada is a “back-alley, sketchy thing” done by unscrupulous doctors.
She said the reality couldn’t be further from the truth — that abortion in Canada is a legal, regulated, health care procedure undertaken by trained physicians.
RightNow’s videos have several hundred thousand views cumulatively. Chabot said “propaganda” of this sort is becoming increasingly common in Canada and uses the same playbook as anti-abortion campaigners in the United States have leveraged to roll back women’s rights. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, removing the federal constitutional protection for abortion.
Timing of videos
Chabot alleged RightNow released the campaign videos in time to push for the passage of anti-abortion policies in Alberta.
She noted the videos were released just a few weeks before an upcoming November vote by members of Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party (UCP) on a resolution to halt funding for third-trimester abortions in the province, except in cases where the physical health of the mother is at serious risk.
“They’re trying to get the public riled up to support that,” Chabot said. “The timing is very well coordinated.”
Golob denied the allegation. She said the videos were released about two years after allegedly being filmed because she had been focused on other priorities, namely caring for her third child after he was born and engaging in campaign work related to the 2025 federal election.
Still, she said the timing of the release was fortuitous with respect to the UCP resolution.
RightNow’s stated mission is to elect pro-life politicians to pass pro-life policy. The recently released campaign videos link to a RightNow petition calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to restrict late-term abortions, which has about 3,200 signatures.
Chabot said she’s worried if legislation restricting abortion funding is passed in Alberta, it could set a precedent that would also impact health care in other provinces.
Late-term abortions rare: Federal government
One of the videos recently released by RightNow focuses on the Cabbagetown Women’s Clinic, an abortion provider in Toronto’s east end, which Golob allegedly visited about two years ago.
The 8-minute video, now viewed more than 100,000 times on X, opens with text explaining that RightNow’s representative went “undercover” at the Toronto clinic at about 22 weeks pregnant, aiming to expose “Canada’s late-term abortion industry.”
Two other videos, released about alleged experiences at clinics in Montreal and Vancouver, have a similar theme.
In Canada, abortion is legal and there is no final cut-off for when an abortion can be performed during the term of pregnancy. According to the federal government, the majority of abortions happen during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and late-term abortions are rare.
In 2020, about 87 per cent of abortions completed in Canada were done during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, according to an estimate by the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, based on data from hospitals and clinics.
TorontoToday contacted the Cabbagetown Women’s Clinic to inquire about RightNow’s video, but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Are the videos harmful to women?
Chabot said the videos are a textbook example of “disinformation,” in which false or misleading information is deliberately shared. Specifically, she said the videos lack essential context and rely on misleading clips that have been spliced together in a manner designed to solicit an emotional response.
In RightNow’s Toronto video, Chabot said a focus on the alleged cost of the procedure at the clinic seems designed to portray abortions as “nefarious.”
After the video’s introduction, a staff member at the clinic appears to tell Golob over the phone that an abortion will cost about $2,150, and that because they don’t have a credit card machine, only cash is accepted. The video shows an individual behind a desk counting bills from an envelope.
Chabot noted that in Canada, like most other medical procedures, abortions are covered by provincial health insurance, negating the need for processing a patient’s payment at the clinic.
In a shorter, separate RightNow video shared on TikTok, Golob said the out-of-pocket payment was allegedly required by the Toronto clinic because, as an Alberta resident, she is not covered under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. This was not mentioned in the main 8-minute video.
Chabot said the videos also falsely imply it’s common for women at a late stage in their pregnancy to randomly wake up one morning and decide to get an abortion. She said women who access late-term abortions typically face medical complications or complex social circumstances preventing earlier care, such as a violent relationship, homelessness or mental health issues.
In the video about Golob’s alleged experience at the Toronto clinic, she appears to speak with the clinic’s abortion counsellor and doctor, who answer her questions about how late in her pregnancy she could have an abortion. The alleged clinic staff member says that while the clinic is limited to performing abortions up to 24 weeks, a nearby Toronto hospital performs procedures later in pregnancy.
Dr. Lynn Murphy-Kaulbeck, president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, said she also believes the video is “disinformation” and is harmful to medical professionals and women who may at some point in their lives consider an abortion.
“I think, really, that it makes women look like bad women, and [like] they don’t care,” she said. “It puts women out as bad people for taking control over their reproductive life.”
Murphy-Kaulbeck said she believes the focus on the particular threshold at which a provider will offer an abortion is improper, and stressed that such a decision is between “a woman and her physician.”
While Golob alleged many Canadians do not support late-term abortions, Chabot countered that there is a national consensus medical decisions “should be made by people and their doctors, not by politicians or anti-choice groups.”
Murphy-Kaulbeck said it’s important for viewers to understand that videos like these often are selectively edited to omit context that might give a fuller picture of a patient’s interaction with health care providers.
During the interview with TorontoToday, Golob said she would provide the full, unedited recording she allegedly captured at the Toronto clinic. However, she did not ultimately share this prior to publication.
