New Brunswick’s only private abortion clinic will perform its last procedure for the foreseeable future, even as supporters pledge money to keep its doors open.
Fredericton’s Morgentaler clinic is facing a funding shortfall and says that without government support, it simply can’t keep the practice running. New Brunswick is the only province with private abortion facilities that refuses to fund them. Women can only obtain an abortion paid for by provincial healthcare at a hospital and with consent from two doctors who deem to the procedure “medically necessary.”
A pro-choice collective calling itself Reproductive Justice NB (RJNB) managed to raise more than $112,000 through a crowdfunding campaign, but it’s not enough to stop the clinic from closing today. The funds are earmarked to negotiate a new lease for the building that houses the clinic and RJNB says it is in discussion with the building’s owner. Organizers are looking to expand the clinic’s services to make it more economically viable and renewing the lease will allow more time to make that change.
Supporters will be gathering in front of the clinic today in protest of the province’s inaction on the issue in a #SaveTheClinic rally. New Brunswick’s Progressive Conservative premier, David Alward, has made no moves to change the province’s funding scheme for abortion, affirming that the province does not fund private clinics and that services are available at two hospitals.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May attended the rally outside New Brunswick’s legislature and told the cheering crowd that limited access to reproductive choices in the province deserve’s the country’s attention.
“No woman denied to access to safe, legal abortion anywhere in Canada is less than a national concern,” she said. “We will continue to work with you to ensure women in New Brunswick have equal rights with women across Canada.”
At the heart of the issue is regulation 84-20 under New Brunswick’s Medical Services Payment Act. The section states that abortions are not “entitled services,” meaning the province will not pay for them unless performed by a obstetrics and gynecology specialist in an approved hospital and two doctors certify in writing that it is ” medically required.” This requirement is designed to satisfy
Although procedures at the Morgentaler clinic are paid for out of pocket, at a cost of $700 to $850, women can refer themselves. Ten per cent of the clinic’s patients came from Prince Edward Island, where there are no abortion services in either clinics or hospitals. The clinic says it performs 60 per cent of the approximately 1,000 abortions obtained each year in New Brunswick. It has been operating for 20 years.
The ability to refer oneself for an abortion covered by medicare — which women in Ontario, Quebec, B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Newfoundland are able to do — saves time and money for a procedure that is time sensitive.
“Women should be able to self-refer for an abortion and not have to get permission from a doctor to have it done in a hospital by a gynecologist and for somebody to say that it is medically necessary,” Simone Leibovitch, the manager of the Morgentaler Clinic, told the Canadian Press.
“Women across Canada … don’t have to go through these hoops.”
With a file from the Canadian Press
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