Things have to change: New Brunswick can no longer ignore its responsibility with regards to abortion access

by Regroupement féministe du Nouveau-Brunswick.
February 2, 2024

Regroupement féministe du Nouveau-Brunswick (RFNB) is devastated to learn of the definitive closure of Fredericton’s Clinic 554. Yesterday, outside the New Brunswick Legislature, Dr. Adrian Edgar announced that, due to the doubling of the clinic’s rent and the lack of public funding, his team would no longer be able to provide abortion services, effective immediately. In addition to an entire region being denied access to essential health care, this event highlights the current government’s misogynistic and classist legislation.

We call on all New Brunswick politicians to take responsibility for guaranteeing universal, free, safe and bilingual access to abortion care for all pregnant people! Things have to change.

Continued: https://nbmediacoop.org/2024/02/02/things-have-to-change-new-brunswick-can-no-longer-ignore-its-responsibility-with-regards-to-abortion-access-commentary/

Canada: activists sue province over refusal to fund abortions in private clinics

Lawsuit argues that New Brunswick’s refusal violates both the law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Brooklyn Connolly in Truro, The Guardian (UK)
Fri 8 Jan 2021

Human rights activists in Canada have filed a lawsuit against the province of New Brunswick for its refusal to fund abortion services in private clinics – as they are in the rest of the country.

The lawsuit suit filed by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) argues that the refusal violates both the law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Canada’s constitution.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/08/canada-new-brunswick-lawsuit-abortion-services-private-clinics

Canada – New Brunswick being sued over abortion access

Lawsuit filed by civil liberties group seeks to force government to fund abortion services in private clinics

Jacques Poitras · CBC News
Posted: Jan 07, 2021

A national civil liberties group has officially launched a lawsuit aimed at forcing the New Brunswick government to fund abortion services in private clinics.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association filed the constitutional challenge in Court of Queen's Bench in Fredericton. "The province is violating women's, girls' and trans people's fundamental right to make their own choices, their right to privacy, to safety and, of course, to equality," Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, the CCLA's director of equality programs, told reporters.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/abortion-new-brunswick-lawsuit-civil-liberties-association-medicare-1.5864555

Canada – Civil liberties group prepared to sue New Brunswick over access to abortion

Province is asked to repeal law that prevents funding outside hospitals

Mia Urquhart · CBC News
Posted: Oct 16, 2020

Citizens shouldn't have to sue their own government to ensure the right to health-care services, says the doctor who runs Fredericton's abortion clinic.

"In a perfect world, you don't have to sue your government to either respect the Canada Health Act or simply provide equal access to health care," said Dr. Adrian Edgar.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/ccla-threatens-lawsuit-over-abortion-1.5763355

Canada – It’s hard enough to get an abortion in New Brunswick—closing Clinic 554 won’t help

by Tegwyn Hughes
Posted on August 17, 2020

This article is the first in a two-part series about Clinic 554 and health care in New Brunswick.

In the Greater Toronto Area, there are nine locations where someone can access abortion services. In the entire province of New Brunswick, there are only four. Come September, that number could shrink to three, worsening the already poor access to abortion care in the province.

Clinic 554, New Brunswick’s only independent clinic that offers abortions—as well as family medicine, trans-inclusive care, and contraception counselling—is set to close permanently at the end of September. Advocates for the Fredericton, N.B. clinic, as well as former patients, are urging the provincial government to save it, but the Progressive Conservative leadership hasn’t budged.

Continued: https://the-pigeon.ca/2020/08/17/clinic-554-1/

Canada – Abortion Is An Essential Service, But The Pandemic Is Making It Harder To Access

Abortion Is An Essential Service, But The Pandemic Is Making It Harder To Access
Travelling for abortion care is even harder when the coronavirus has shut everything down.

By Maija Kappler
04/09/2020

Canada’s provincial and territorial governments have deemed abortion an essential medical service, and one that continues to be available during the COVID-19 pandemic. But reproductive health advocates say existing barriers to abortion access have become even more significant now.

Calls to a 24-hour info line provided by Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights increased by 30 per cent in the last two weeks of March, according to communications director Laura Neidhart.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/abortion-access-coronavirus_ca_5e8b54d5c5b6e7d76c6805c7

Canada – Clinic 554, Fredericton Abortion Clinic That Also Supports LGBTQ Patients, Set To Close

Clinic 554, Fredericton Abortion Clinic That Also Supports LGBTQ Patients, Set To Close
The clinic's director, along with Jagmeet Singh, want the federal government to intervene.

10/11/2019
By Maija Kappler

New Brunswick’s only freestanding abortion clinic, which also provides health care to much of the province’s transgender population, is set to close.

Clinic 554 has previously relied on crowdsourced donations to stay open, and the staff sometimes forgoes payment from patients in order to provide services.

“We feel a tremendous amount of fear for our patients and the underserved communities we care for,” Clinic 554’s medical director, Dr. Adrian Edgar, said in an emotional statement posted to Facebook. “I thought I would be the family doctor for my patients until I or they died.”

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/abortion-clinic-closure-new-brunswick_ca_5d9fa05de4b087efdbab11c0?utm_hp_ref=ca-living

New Brunswick Health Minister is “willfully incompetent” says doctor

New Brunswick Health Minister is “willfully incompetent” says doctor

Written by Susan O'Donnell
on August 16, 2019

Health Minister and lawyer Ted Flemming knowingly permits New Brunswick to contravene the Canada Health Act, the federal law regulating payment of health services. New Brunswick doctor Adrian Edgar says this indicates Flemming is “willfully incompetent” and has called for his resignation.

The Canada Health Act ensures that eligible Canadian residents can access health services approved by Medicare on a prepaid basis, without direct charges at the point of service. Most doctors across Canada operate from private facilities, billing their provincial government for Medicare services. In New Brunswick, the province pays for all Medicare services provided by doctors in private facilities, except abortions.

Continued: http://nbmediacoop.org/2019/08/16/new-brunswick-health-minister-is-willfully-incompetent-says-doctor/