"A Bad Precedent"? You Betcha!

Some follow-up to my post yesterday about the bungling around the approval of Mifegymiso (abortion pill) for inclusion in taxpayer-funded provincial healthcare plans.

The Globe and Mail is still on the story.

It seems that when Mifegymiso's manufacturer, Celopharma, began the long and winding (and politically stymied? remember, there were CONservatives in charge then) process, there were no costs associated with the Common Drug Review.

[Paula Tenenbaum, president of Celopharma] said that when the company began the Health Canada application process in late 2011, the Common Drug Review – which is a separate process, not run by Health Canada – was offered at no cost to pharmaceutical companies. “As a result, we did not budget for the $72,000,” she said. The company asked for a fee reduction or a two-year payment plan, but that proposal was rebuffed.

The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH), which oversees the Common Drug Review, confirmed the fees only came into effect in September of 2014. (Ms. Tenenbaum said the full process would actually cost between $100,000 and $150,000; CADTH disagreed and reiterated the $72,000 figure.)

Brent Fraser, the vice-president of pharmaceutical reviews for CADTH, said on Tuesday that giving Celopharma a break on the fees could set a bad precedent.

Here's the short version of drug approval works in Canada.

First, a new drug has to go through Health Canada's Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB), where it is assessed for safety, quality, and effectiveness.

How long does this take? Well, it's hard to say from the website's blah-blah.

HPFB has set internationally competitive performance targets for its conduct of reviews. The length of time for review depends on the product being submitted and the size and quality of the submission, and is influenced by HPFB's workload and human resources.

This part of the ordeal was finally completed and the good news reported in July 2015.

Then Health Canada issues a monograph detailing who may prescribe it, with what training, and other restrictions. That link is from April this year, when abortion providers were getting worried about the folderol being proposed.

But getting provincial healthcare plans to pay for it is a whole other regulatory nightmare.

And of course, Quebec is slightly different.

Here's how it works in Quebec.

Authorization from Health Canada is the first step common to both Quebec and the rest of Canada.

In the rest of Canada, new non-cancer drugs go to Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) for what is called a Common Drug Review (CDR). Cancer drugs go to the pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review.

In Quebec, both cancer and non-cancer drugs go to the Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS).

Expert committees evaluate the new drugs.

If the drug’s therapeutic value has been established, INESSS then evaluates the drug based on four criteria: reasonableness of price charged; cost-effectiveness ratio; impact on the health of the population; effect on the basic prescription drug insurance plan.

Then provincial health departments decide whether to include it. In Quebec, the article notes, sometimes politicians have over-ridden recommendations to include very expensive drugs.

So. Celopharma entered the labyrinth in 2011 and budgeted based on the rules at the time. Health Canada took its sweet time to approve a drug that has been in use in France for 30 years and in the US for over 15 years.

Meanwhile, the independent agency, CADTH, that must review it before provincial healthcare plans will pay for it, slaps on some whopping big fees.

And CADTH can't give the company a break because it would "set a bad precedent."

The rules were changed in the middle of the game -- a game that Celopharma had zero control over -- and there's no relief offered?

This seems unfair to say the least.

There's got to be a way around this. In Australia, a Real Feminist PM, Julia Gillard simply ordered that the drug be listed on its taxpayer funded Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

I realize that things are done differently here, but surely our globally touted FeministPM™, with his gender-balanced cabinet and other meaningless fripperies of respect for women and their rights, could bloody well do something.

Unless of course this whole schmozzle has been engineered as a sleight-of-hand slap in the face to Canadian women, while keeping the Blue Liberals onside.

Whaaaat? I hear you say. Liberals saying one thing and doing another?????????

RU486: Game. Set. Match.

Further to the long overdue approval by Health Canada of RU486 or mifepristone, the 'gold standard' of medical abortion: an explanation and a clarification. (And some gloating.)

Medical -- non-surgical -- abortion is not new to Canada. But the protocol doctors have been forced to follow up to now is outmoded, unreliable, and subject to screw-ups.

Here, an expert explains:

"We're absolutely thrilled," Jill Arkles, from the Sexual Health Centre in Saskatoon, told CBC News Thursday.

According to Arkles, some doctors in the province were already providing an alternative to surgical abortion, using a combination of an injection and medication to induce a miscarriage.

She called RU-486 a welcome advancement. The injection-and-tablet method can take up to five weeks to complete, and involve up to five medical appointments, while RU-486 is two pills taken a day or two apart.

"It's more cost-effective than other current medications that we're using, as well it requires less time overall," she said.

So, quicker, easier, more cost-effective. Not to mention less time and stress for patients.

Thus: gold standard.

The news story I based my blogpost yesterday was less than clear on how widely available the new protocol will be.

[Vicki] Saporta [president and CEO of National Abortion Federation] said initially the drug will probably only be available through health-care professionals who already provide abortion services.

It seems that Saporta's judgement was not based on any Health Canada requirement, but on training issues and individual doctors' inclinations.

Here's part of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada's statement.

The SOGC is working with the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), using the expertise of our members to develop clinical practice guidelines on the use of mifegymiso [Canadian brand name] and to provide educational opportunities to physicians to ensure that they are well-prepared to counsel and care for women requesting medical abortion.

More on the inclinations of doctors:

Canadian doctors who were wary of the makeshift cocktail [injection and tablets] will likely be more willing to prescribe an abortion drug that’s approved by Health Canada for that purpose, said Jennifer Blake, the CEO of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. She expects the society to provide formal training around the drug and its side effects to doctors who want to offer it, and said family doctors and obstetricians will both be able to qualify. Doctors’ approaches to abortion “depends on the community,” Dr. Blake said.

“I think if you look at physicians in general as coming from the fabric of Canadians society, Canadian society on the whole feels this is a decision that is best made by a woman herself, and I would expect that to be the same among health-care providers.”

We'll have to wait and see how many doctors -- and as critically, where they are located -- will decide to offer this solution.

Now for the gloating. CBC notes that as we head into a protracted election campaign, this might not be the best timing for CONservatives wanting to placate the fetus freaks among their base.

Indeed, the initial reaction among cabinet ministers was to run like hell.

[Health Minister Rona] Ambrose told reporters in St. Albert, Alta., that the decision did not rest with her.

“It’s out of my hands and the decision is final,” she said.

“Any of those details you would have to speak to the officials at Health Canada and the scientists that actually manage the regulatory approval process. I’m not involved in it.”

Ambrose cancelled two events scheduled for Thursday afternoon and Friday in Edmonton and area. No reason was given.

Except for one CON MP (so far), David Anderson, who issued a foot-stomper of a press release demanding Ambrose roll back the clock to the 1950s.

To sum up, yes, medical abortion has been available in Canada but not very widely offered or actually undertaken, precisely because it was arduous for all involved.

The fetus freaks are particularly pissed over RU486, precisely because it is easier and more effective.

And they have good reason to be pissed. As SUZY ALLCAPS herself admits.

http://www.bigbluewave.ca/2014/10/will-collapse-of-planned-parenthood.html

The problem with this [medical abortion] model, from the pro-life perspective, is that it's a little harder to protest the GP who does abortions, when he treats the community's ear infections, sore throats, STD's and so on.

If you make life hard on this person, it won't just be abortion clients who'll be unhappy. It will be all the patients this doctor sees.

When GPs, nurse practitioners, midwives, and hopefully, eventually pharmacists are able and willing to help end an early pregnancy, it's not just a game-changer. It's a game-ender.

Game. Set. And soon, the whole fucking shooting match.


ADDED: Health Canada Regulatory Decision Summary.

FINALLY

Nearly 30 years after much of the world's women got access to the "gold standard" of medical abortion, Health Canada has finally approved RU486 for Canadian women. (Remarkably, the news story does not "balance" the news by getting SHRIEKY quotes from fetus fetishists.)

This is great, if long overdue, news for safety, privacy, cost, and convenience.

Big Fetus® hates it, of course. Their long campaign, verging on the farcical at times (see Godwin's law), against it always was futile.

SUZY ALL-CAPS repeats the usual lies about it: http://www.bigbluewave.ca/2015/07/ru-486-approved-in-canada.html

So does We Need a Law Like a Hole in the Head.

And here's LieShite rabbiting on about "human pesticide."

Amusingly, to accompany their extremely dodgy claim that medical abortion is "reversible," The Hole in the Head gang is encouraging fetus freaks to write to MPs to reverse Health Canada's decision. Good luck with that.

While they may have hopes of the misogynist Harper government, it seems not even proponents of 1950s morality could withstand the overwhelming evidence that mifepristone is safe and effective.

Rona Ambrose was tight-lipped about it.

Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose had little to say Wednesday night about her department's decision.

"Drug approval decisions are arms-length decisions made by Health Canada officials based on analysis by Health Canada scientists," a spokesperson for Ambrose said in an email.

Shorter: Don't blame me, fetus freaks.

And while RU486 represents an advance in abortion care, one of its main advantages, it seems, will not be implemented for a while yet.

It was expected that its approval would greatly improve access for women in rural and remote areas by allowing GPs and other healthcare professionals to dispense it.

But no. Or not yet. (My emphasis.)

Reproductive medicine experts have called the drug the best known option for abortion and have been advocating for its approval in Canada.

While some countries allow the drug to be dispensed by pharmacists, Health Canada has opted not to go that route.
[Vicki] Saporta [president and CEO of National Abortion Federation] said initially the drug will probably only be available through health-care professionals who already provide abortion services. But she said it's hoped that over time more doctors will agree to prescribe the drug — especially those serving remote communities or working in areas where women have to travel long distances to see a doctor who will perform an abortion.

"Mifepristone holds the promise of improving access to abortion care for women in more rural communities where there isn't a current abortion provider," she said.

Saporta said it is likely the drug will only become available in Canada in early 2016.

So, Canada, long a world leader in sensible abortion policy, has finally joined the 21st century in offering a full range of options to patients.

DJ! has been writing about medical abortion in general and RI486/mifepristone in particular for fucking years. Some past blogposts.

ADDED: CBC does an explainer.

Anti-Choice Should Support Approval of RU486

Many questions are being raised over the delay in Health Canada's expected announcement on mifepristone, aka RU486.

While we and others remain confident that the overwhelming evidence of its safety and efficacy will convince scientists (!) at Health Canada to approve it, some are wondering about the politics and secrecy of the process.

Many pro-science/pro-choice people have a very dim view of the Harper government's dismissal of science and evidence and its repeated meddling in supposedly arm's-length agencies, so it's rather odd to see Official Fetus Freakdom speculating on political interference.

The timing of the delay is noteworthy. Making a decision prior to the upcoming federal election could have drastic consequences for the reigning Conservatives. An approval of the drug could potentially result in the party alienating itself from its natural base of people who respect life and think it wrong for a mother to end the life of her pre-born child. Denying the drug, however, could potentially give left-leaning institutions, politicians, and especially mainstream media added firepower to accuse it of being against ‘reproductive rights,’ and ultimately against women.

We know why the Freaks are dead set against medical abortion *cough* privacy/access/cost/end of clinic harassment *cough* but really, they should welcome it.

For the past few months, they've been trumpeting a new "pro-life" treatment that can "reverse" medical abortions.

And look at the new opportunities it offers them.

Gerard Nadal, Ph.D., a pro-life scientist, breaks down the process further.

“Unlike surgical abortions which are immediately lethal, RU-486 (mifepristone) works over a period of 36-72 hours,” he notes.

So, if they can get their hands on someone part-way through the procedure, they have the chance to make another "save" as they call it and interfere with the right to abortion. Again.

Wheeee! Wot fun! More manipulation! More guilt-tripping! More martyrgasms!

Oh. Wait. They'd have to be able to identify people who are partway through a medical abortion in order to intervene. I wonder how they'd do that?

Maybe by launching another anti-choice mole willing to breach patient privacy by snooping into hospital records.

Seriously, we're glad this treatment exists. It represents everything we stand for. Choice above all. If a person is having second thoughts, by all means, stop and reconsider.

Who knew that anti-choice was really so pro-choice?

Putting Health Canada on Notice

At long fucking last, a decision is coming on mifepristone, originally called RU486.

Health Canada has set an internal deadline of mid-January to finally make a decision on the abortion pill, a drug that is already available in 60 countries but has been stuck in Canada’s drug-approval pipeline for more than three years.

The pro-choice advocates and researchers who have been helping a small European drug company with its Canadian application say they have encountered an unusual amount of antipathy from the regulators who will decide if Canadian women get access mifepristone, a pill that can end an early pregnancy when combined with a drug that is already sold in this country.

For context, mifeprisone was first approved in France in September, 1988.

Oddly, it was in January 1988 that the Supreme Court repealed Canada's abortion laws. It was also the year that Gretzky was traded to Los Angeles and Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal. Mulroney was PM and Svend Robinson was the first MP to come out as gay.

Doesn't that seem like a rather long fucking time ago to you? Ya think our nanny government has dragged its feet long enough?

Of course, there is no way no how this has anything to do with the rabid Fetus Freaks who vote for the Corrupt Party of Canada and who had "RU4Life" (geddit?) as their theme for this year's March of the Feti event.

This is the Last Bastion for them. Even raving lunatic SUZY ALLCAPS recognizes that once abortion is taken out of the exclusive purview of hospitals and clinics and put directly into the discreet hands of patients and healthcare providers, it's OVER for them.

The approval of the "gold standard" in medical abortion would be a clear win for sanity, science, patient autonomy and privacy. With growing activism around abortion access in Canada (see New Brunswick and PEI), the availability of this drug will help a lot, especially for women in rural and remote areas.

So. Will Health Canada approve it?

They'd better.

Unless they'd rather see a reprise of what Chris Selley called "online hellfire".


(We've blogged about medical abortion extensively. Many posts with informative links can be found here and here. One of my faves includes a link to a study showing that RU486 is safer than tylenol.)

First, do no harm...

Upon successfully completing their basic training, and before they take on the years of residency that will allow them to practice their science, skills and craft in a medical specialty of their choice, medical students pledge to the principals of the Hippocratic Oath*.

In Ontario, the specific application of that pledge came under scrutiny in the last year with regard to women's reproductive health rights. In its modern form, the Oath is centred upon patient care. "... Above all, I must not play at God."

DJ! has been covering this issue from the outset, here, and here. 

Ontario’s new policy is unlikely to put the discussion to rest, said Carolyn McLeod, professor of philosophy at the University of Western Ontario. Patients, particularly women, will undoubtedly find it troubling if a doctor refuses their request for birth control. Doctors who object to abortion might feel uncomfortable or complicit providing patients with a referral, but setting out a clearer policy could help connect patients to care providers who can best serve their needs, Prof. McLeod said.

“To receive abortion care from somebody who is morally opposed to abortion, I think, is harmful,” she said. “I think for patients’ sake, if for no one else’s, there should be the ability for the provider to give the referral.”

Ontario’s new policy has not yet been finalized and could still be changed, depending on what the college hears during the feedback period.

Marc Gabel, former president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, said doctors could face disciplinary action if they do not comply with the new guidelines and cannot use unfounded medical reasons to withhold birth control, abortions, vasectomies, blood transfusions or other treatments.

“What we’re trying to do, I think, is set a tone to remind physicians and the public we will act professionally in ensuring their access to care and their safety,” Dr. Gabel said.

From here.

This vivid graphic

accompanied anti-Choice Pro-lies groups spin on the 'debate'.  This is their response to regulatory bodies reminding anti-Choice physicians of their professional obligations, responsibilities and duties.

No matter how the fetushists and their acolytes spin their concerns, the basis for their shrieking is fundamentally religious. Yes, a professional can abstain from engaging in activities that compromise her/his beliefs. There are nonetheless job requirements that require that she/he assist a patient in finding a practitioner who will care for, and address the needs of that patient in a timely manner. 

If Gawd-worshippy physicians won't do this, let them move on to a medical specialty or a practice where they won't be tempted to play at being Gawd.

*In my research, I came across this interesting opinion piece about the Oath. There's a relevant point about abortion.

SHE Has Seen the Future

SUZY ALLCAPS has seen the future and it's a ginormous anti-choice LOSS. (plain-text url for the usual reason)

http://www.bigbluewave.ca/2014/10/will-collapse-of-planned-parenthood.html

SHE links to a couple of posts by Big Nurse Stanek, Head Chef of the Sweet-and-Sour Fried Fetus Emporium, crowing about the demise of Planned Parenthood -- and therefore, ipso fatso, of abortion, in the US.

SHE doesn't think the situation in Canada is comparable -- and thank gord, she's right about that too.

SHE understands that the future of abortion is -- as we've said here many, many times -- medical abortion.

SHE says (her italics):

A general practitioner, or a nurse practitioner, the same professional who treats your kid's ear infection, can anonymously fill out a prescription for abortion pills, without raising any hackles.

And nobody has to know.

I can see this happening in private offices. Ultrasound are no longer huge machines costing tens of thousands of dollars. You can get a smartphone version, and for the purposes of a medical abortion, it can do the job.

If Planned Parenthood collapses, there will still be abortions. Only the model will change. It will be much less visible. It will probably be handled by lone providers hiding behind their "general practice".

And maybe these abortions are somewhat more troublesome than surgical abortions, but they get the job done.

The problem with this model, from the pro-life perspective, is that it's a little harder to protest the GP who does abortions, when he treats the community's ear infections, sore throats, STD's and so on.

If you make life hard on this person, it won't just be abortion clients who'll be unhappy. It will be all the patients this doctor sees.

DINGDINGDING! Give that woman a kewpie fetus!

Medical abortion is safe, effective, and much cheaper than surgical abortion. It offers women who want to get the deed over with a quick and private solution.

Which is why the fetus fetishists hate hate hate medical abortion.

And, as SHE rightly points out, fetus freaks can't protest ordinary GPs providing this service without pissing off even more people than they piss off now.

The future is on its way.

As soon as fucking Health Canada gets off its ass and approves the "gold standard" of medical abortion, RU486.

Women in 57 countries have access to the drug, according to [Dr. Sheila] Dunn. It has been available in France since 1988, in Britain since 1991 and in the United States since 2000.

But not yet in benighted Canada.

Last we heard, this momentous decision -- over 25 years in the making -- is expected sometime next year.

And Health Canada? If you're reading, be prepared for the Mother of All Ruckuses should you fail to approve it under duress from fetus freaks like SUZY.

Birth Control: Deeply Moral or Inconsequential?

You can't have it both ways.

Either birth control is a highly moral issue on which physicians must be allowed to impose their "conscience" or it is a trivial matter with negligible consequences that can be easily dealt with.


"A doctor at a Calgary walk-in clinic is refusing to prescribe birth control due to her personal beliefs."

This caused a ruckus starting on Facebook and a comment was sought from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (bold mine).

Under the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta’s policy on Moral or Religious Beliefs Affecting Medical Care, doctors can refuse to provide medical services, but must ensure the patient is offered timely access to those services from another practitioner.

Trevor Theman, registrar with the CPSA, said the policy does not require Westglen to have a doctor on hand who can prescribe the pill.

He did not specify what “timely” meant, but said a delay in receiving a birth control prescription is “not likely going to disadvantage a patient in a serious way.”

“There’s a degree of urgency but it’s not like life or death today kind of urgency,” he said, adding most women should be seeing a family doctor about their sexual health needs.

“In an ideal world, women who need birth control or are seeking birth control will have a regular doctor and won’t just be dropping into a walk-in clinic to get a prescription for birth control pills.”

Yabbut, this is not an ideal world

Pam Krause, president and CEO of the Calgary Sexual Health Centre, said she’s aware of doctors who morally object to making abortion referrals, but refusing to prescribe birth control is virtually unheard of in Alberta.
...
Personal beliefs should not interfere with a professional responsibilities, she said, adding that the birth control pill is one of the most highly demanded prescriptions.
...
In fact, one in five Calgarians ­­— 200,000 people — is without a family doctor and rely on walk-in clinics to serve their medical needs.

So, which is it? Big fucking hairy deal? Or minor matter that non-irresponsible women should sort out on their own?

And that reminded me of the messed-up recall of the birth control pill AlySena in April 2013.

“Although this recall is currently a Type 2 recall and does not require pharmacy to contact patients, due to the potential seriousness of the recall, and in an abundance of caution, care and concern for our customers, London Drugs has chosen to be proactive in advising our customers and patients of the recall,” the blog post read, linking off to the urgent notice.

Class 1 situations require “reasonable probability” that the use of the drug will cause serious health consequences or death. Class 2 could lead to “temporary adverse health consequences,” Health Canada explains on its website.

The maker, Apotex, seemed to consider the issue serious. Health Canada not so much.

The lot was identified as LF01899A and distributor Apotex issued a voluntary recall to wholesalers and retailers on April 3. The affected packages were removed from store shelves on April 5, when most pharmacies received the recall.

But patients were not required to be contacted until April 8, when Health Canada upgraded the recall to Type I, the most serious level.

Health Canada says this type of recall is reserved for “a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”

Again, an unintended pregnancy seems to strike some in the medical community as a mere "temporary adverse health consequence." Much like the fetus fetishists who insist pregnancy is hardly any bother at all. And women who reject it are selfish bitches.

Gawd, we women and our reproductive systems require a lot of policing, don't we?

Here's a radical idea: Why don't we leave such decisions entirely up to the person most affected? And leave the damned panty-sniffing gatekeepers -- whether MDs, pharmacists, or Health Canada -- out of it.

Let us know if a product is safe and effective, then shut the fuck up.

Reminder: In Ontario, a similar kerfuffle over the "morality" of birth control prescriptions drove the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to seek public input. Go have your say. The process is open until August 5.

RU-486 Is Back, Now With Godwin's Law

Health Canada is an odd organization, isn't it?

Back in November, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published a commentary advocating for the approval of RU-486, the preferred medical abortion drug, unaccountably not yet sanctioned in pro-choice Canada.

It explained:

A manufacturer must apply to bring the drug to market in Canada. Health Canada, citing confidentiality laws, would not confirm whether it is currently studying such an application.

However, [Dr. Sheila] Dunn said an application had been made within the last year. She said it may have taken time for a manufacturer to apply, owing to the expense and Canada’s relatively small population.

When the inevitable shit hit the fan from the fetus fetishists, Health Canada denied there was an application pending.

But now LifeShite reveals that the abortion activists did know what the hell they were talking about.

Health Canada has admitted that its deputy health minister misspoke when he told a parliament health committee in November that there is no pending application to have the controversial abortion drug RU-486 (mifepristone) approved in Canada. 

“An application has indeed been filed with Health Canada and is under review,” Health Canada’s Bureau of Metabolism, Oncology and Reproductive Sciences wrote on January 2 in an email obtained by LifeSiteNews.com.

So, the antis are revving up again, citing old bullshit studies and stats from The Way Back Machine, before treatment regimes were find-tuned.

And ya gotta love this from CampaignLie's petition page.

And whereas RU-486 has ties to the Nazi death camps of WWII, given it was designed by the same company (Hoechst AG, formerly IG Farben) which supplied Hitler with the Zyklon-B gas used to kill millions of Jews, Poles and others in the gas chambers of Auschwitz;

Yep. That's how desperately short of actual facts and arguments they are. They went for the Nazi supplier! shriek.

Ja, like Kodak, Coca-Cola, IBM etc.

For background and more info, check out DJ's previous posts on RU-486.

R U able to buy RU486 in Canada? Why not?*

Medical or chemical abortion is back in the news. We've written about it here often, most recently here.

It's a mystery why prochoice Canada has not approved RU-486 or Mifepristone.

The Canadian Medical Association is on the case.

Health Canada is being urged to approve a drug that is considered the “gold standard” of medical abortion and is already available in most other developed countries.

The drug mifepristone, commonly known as RU-486, is not available in Canada despite being the best known option for abortion, says a commentary published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

“This is the choice that many women actually want to have,” said one of the authors, Dr. Sheila Dunn of Women’s College Hospital in Toronto. “Canadian women don’t have it, and it’s unacceptable that we don’t.”

Medical abortion uses drugs rather than surgery to induce an early abortion, similar to a miscarriage. Mifepristone is taken orally and ends a pregnancy within one or two days.

Women in 57 countries have access to the drug, according to Dunn. It has been available in France since 1988, in Britain since 1991 and in the United States since 2000.

As we've noted here before, the fetus fetishists really really really hate medical abortion. It's private, safe, and cheap(er). It allows women to act quickly on an unwanted pregnancy. Any doctor can prescribe the pills, so one doesn't have to go to a clinic targetted by screaming nutbars.

So, here they are again with a petition against approving it.

The petition cites old data, now largely irrelevant because of changed protocols, but we really like this Godwinism.

And whereas RU-486 has ties to the Nazi death camps of WWII, given it was designed by the same company (Hoechst AG, formerly IG Farben) which supplied Hitler with the Zyklon-B gas used to kill millions of Jews, Poles and others in the gas chambers of Auschwitz;

Yep. They went there.

(The petition has a whopping 862 signatures at the moment.)

As we've said before, the government of Canada has a duty to provide top-drawer medical choices to patients. But it also has a duty to try to keep costs down. Which is exactly what bulk buying of RU-486 would achieve.

Look at Australian PM Julia Gillard's last act as prime minister.

Julia Gillard's last act as prime minister included signing off on cabinet approval for slashing the cost of abortion pill RU486 to as little as $12.

Listing the abortion drug on the taxpayer-funded Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will see the price of a medical abortion in Australia drop from up to $800 to just $12 for concession card holders from August 1.

Women not eligible for concessions will pay around $70 under the PBS.

Safe, effective, private, cheap.

What's not to like?

So, will Health Canada do the sensible and responsible thing? Or will Rona Ambrose stick a base-appeasing spaniard in the works?

*Title taken from a comment by Alison suggesting a bumper sticker here.