Right of way

Happy birthday Regina v. Morgentaler!

Yup, it's been 21 years since Canadian women won the right to privatize their lives and bodies.

But not all Canadian women are created equal,  as this op-ed from today's Star by the National Abortion Federation's Vicki Saporta reports. (Boldface is mine.)

Currently, there are no abortion services available in Prince Edward Island, and access remains a challenge for rural women throughout Canada. In New Brunswick, a woman can only obtain a publicly funded abortion if provided by an obstetrician/gynecologist in a hospital with written approval from two doctors. This policy contradicts the Morgentaler decision and unfairly restricts access for women in the province.

Women not living in their home province or territory also face challenges because abortion is not part of the inter-provincial billing agreement. In fact, abortion is the only time-sensitive and medically necessary procedure excluded from the list of services on the inter-provincial billing agreement.

This policy forces students attending school in another province or women who have recently moved and are in the process of transitioning their health-care benefits to pay the full cost of their abortion care out-of-pocket, or incur additional expenses travelling back to their home province in order to obtain a publicly funded abortion.

Now more than ever, it is important that we do not lose sight of the women who continue to face these obstacles in order to obtain the abortion care they need. We must continue to work together to ensure that women have the same access to abortion care whether they live in an urban centre or a small town, or whether they live in British Columbia or Prince Edward Island.

Dammit Janet! has more.

Funny, innit? The only time-sensitive and medically necessary procedure NOT included in the agreement happens to be one affecting women only.

I wonder how people would react if, say, prostate cancer surgery were excluded from the inter-provinical billing agreement.

That said, it's way past time that prostate cancer screening got equal funding and availability in this country. More of my male friends have died from prostate cancer than women friends than breast cancer, because of early screening I am sure.

But I digress.

Why are some women in Canada put at such risk?

Comments

[sooey]

Access to abortion services is the issue Feminists should be addressing VERY LOUDLY to drown out the irrational misogynists who want to re-criminalize it.

[MensRightsNow]

Funny, innit? The only time-sensitive and medically necessary procedure NOT included in the agreement happens to be one affecting women only.

The life inside may have something to say about that. Maybe even the father.

Of course, you can abort or have it, either way, you should pay for it alone.

[Keith]

"In New Brunswick, a woman can only obtain a publicly funded abortion if provided by an obstetrician/gynecologist in a hospital with written approval from two doctors. This policy contradicts the Morgentaler decision and unfairly restricts access for women in the province."

This does not contradict the morgentaler decision at all. In New Brunswick a women can get an abortion, paid with thier own funds at any time on demand.

As far as abortions being time sensitive, a women has at least 7 months to kill the baby. That's more than half a year. Hardly time sensitive. The only way that it can be considered "Time Sensitive" is if one takes a belief that women are ENTITLED to whatever they WHAT, whenever they WANT it. Much the same as the women you wrote about in your post, Rich Bitches.

[Antonia Zerbisias]

Actually ... that post is called ''Rich Bitch'' and not ''Rich Bitches'' -- because ''bitch'' in the sense I used it was in reference to complaining, kvetching, etc.

I find your inference very revealing of your attitude towards women.

Just saying.

[Keith]

Oh! Now verbage can be "revealing" of one person that uses it but convey a completely different "Revealing" by a different person that uses that verbage. The misandry (women hating) is your perception Anotnia not my being. Remember the definition Antonia? The fact that I pointed out YOUR false propoganda makes me a hater of women in YOUR eyes. It REVEALS the misandry you display when you are not allowed to publish your false propoganda unchecked. Oh, but you seem to think that women are entitled to do whatever they want when they want.

[...pat.]

No woman would happily wait until the 7th month to have an abortion. Women who have fetuses that die or are obviously non viable, and end up going through an induced labour to get rid of them are not doing it because they "just never got around to it". The later one waits, the greater the risks.
Abortions are best done as soon as the woman finds herself pregnant.

Keith, are you sure that women can get a paid abortion in New Brunswick? Where?
They can't get a medical abortion at all in PEI. Do you think this is A Good Thing?

[Keith]

You know Pat, the woman assumed those risks when she had sex. Women shouldn't have special consideration because they voluntarily engaged in a behaviour that exposed them to those risks.

As best I know( I'm not a regular consumer of those services), yes, an abortion can be obtained in New Brunswick however the availablity is sparse just as the population is. As for PEI, the closest I've been to there is Halifax. From what I hear, not much of anything is readily available on PEI. It wouldn't surprise me if any serious medical condition would have to be treated on the mainland.

Here's a solution, why don't one of these opressed women invest the hundreds of thousands of dollars on all the medical training to become a doctor and set up thier million dollar practice on PEI and they can pay off all thier student loans with that HUGE income they will get because of the large population that is hungry for abortion services on that island.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

Pat Pet,

"They can't get a medical abortion at all in PEI. Do you think this is A Good Thing?"

You didn't direct this quetion at me, but .....

Yes.

[Keith]

Mythbusting abortion information in Canada

According to http://www.abortionincanada.ca/facts/abortion_clinics.html there is an abortion clinic in Fredericton on Prince Edward Island. Ironnically, elsewhere on this same site they have claim there is no clinic or hospital that supplies abortion services on Prince Edward Island which is probably the source of the feminist false propoganda.

Taking the # of clinics divided by the number of women (2006 census data) yields the following facts; there are more clinics per woman on Prince Edward Island than there is in Ontario. There are more hospitals per woman giving abortions in New Brunswick than in Ontario.

Isn't funny how feminist propoganda becomes transparent when view through the FACTS.

[Antonia]

Keith? Fredericton is as much in PEI as Newark and Atlantic City are in Maine.

If you're going to pontificate from the US about Canada, please take a moment and learn your geography.

There will be a quiz on Monday.

[Chris Moorehead]

"You know Pat, the woman assumed those risks when she had sex. Women shouldn't have special consideration because they voluntarily engaged in a behaviour that exposed them to those risks."

Here it is again. It's always the same thing...the anti-choicers don't give a damn about "the sanctity of human life". It's all about punishing women for having sex. Or, to be more specific, it's all about angry right-wing men wanting to punish women for having sex with men other than themselves...particularly with those "liberal" guys who seem to always "get lucky" by, I don't know, treating women like human beings or something...