Backgrounder: Abortion Access Issues
Even though all provinces and territories have deemed
abortion to be a “medically required service”* under the Canada
Health Act, abortion services still do not meet any of
the five principles of the Act:
- public administration
- comprehensiveness
- universality
- portability
- accessibility
Because some provinces have failed to provide accessible or
funded abortion services as per the Canada Health Act,
access to abortion is still difficult for many people,
especially those in rural, remote, or conservative areas;
minority and immigrant women; low-income women; teenagers;
transgender people, and other disadvantaged groups.
Lack of access to abortion violates women’s and trans
peoples’ constitutional rights, but governments often lack the
political will to make abortion accessible. Even the medical
profession has succumbed to anti-abortion pressure by not
performing abortions or training providers.
- The province of New Brunswick does not fund abortions at
clinics, while Ontario does not fully fund abortions for
every clinic. Women must pay out-of-pocket at least in part
for their abortions, which is a violation of the Canada
Health Act. The average cost of a first-trimester
abortion is $700.
- Fewer than one in five Canadian hospitals provide abortion
services, even though it is a common and simple medical
procedure. Hospitals that do provide abortions may enforce
restrictive policies such as 12-week gestational limits or
requiring a doctor’s referral. Hospitals often have long
waiting lists.
- There is a shortage of doctors able and willing to perform
abortions, partly because medical school training in
abortion is inadequate or unavailable, and partly out of
stigma and fear. Canadian medical schools spend an average
of less than one hour discussing abortion during the
four-year curriculum. First-trimester surgical abortion
techniques are not even discussed in many of Canada’s
medical schools.
To improve access to abortion across Canada, ARCC
works towards:
- Obtaining full Medicare funding for abortion clinics (in
provinces that are still violating the Canada Health
Act)
- Improving hospital access to abortion across Canada
- Increasing the number of abortion providers and expanding
training opportunities for abortion
* To understand why abortion is a medically-required service
and must be fully funded, see our Position Paper Abortion
Is a “Medically Required” Service and Cannot be Delisted.
