73% of Atlantic Canadians do not support public funding of abortion on demand according to an Environics Research Group 2011 survey . The Morgentaler abortion clinic in Fredericton said that it would have to close this summer for financial reasons. The director of the clinic said that it could not remain open unless it received medicare funds. The Morgentaler clinic is a private facility. For years, Dr. Morgentaler sought to have abortions covered through public funds at his clinic in New Brunswick. The province of New Brunswick funds abortions in hospitals but not in private clinics and hence rejected Dr. Morgentaler’s demands.
As for the rest of Canada, the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario Québec and Newfoundland pay for abortions performed in hospitals and private clinics. Other provinces pay for abortions done in hospitals. Some provinces do not have private abortion facilities.
The Canada Health Act does not require that abortions be funded. In fact the Canada Health Act does not mention abortion. It requires only that medically necessary services performed by a physician be provincially funded.
Does abortion qualify as a medically necessary service? Canadian Physicians for Life have said:
“Abortion is not an essential medical service. It is designated “medically necessary” for purely social and political, not medical, reasons. Pregnancy is not an”injury, illness or disease.” There is no proof that abortion improves health. In fact it disrupts a normal physiological process, poses a risk to the mother, and ends the life of her developing child. There is no “medical necessity” where no medical benefit or health risk exists.”
“To justify funding of a service, the medical necessity and therapeutic value of that service should be undisputed.”
Abortion advocates lobbied for abortion under the banner of “choice” but expect the taxpayer to fund this “choice”.
