"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?????????

Abortion Access? Another slap in the face for Canadians

Gee. You'd almost think that the gynoticians politicians don't want women to access the abortion pill, widely touted to improve access for people living in the wide swaths of remote, rural, and medically underserved Canada.

The Globe and Mail reported yesterday.

When the gold standard in medical abortion drugs finally becomes available in Canada later this year, the $300 cost of the pills will not be covered by most provincial drug plans, The Globe and Mail has learned.

The company that makes Mifegymiso has bowed out of an essential step on the path to public reimbursements for new drugs over the $72,000 price tag for a standard review of the medication’s cost effectiveness.

Provincial governments everywhere but Quebec say the company’s decision is preventing them from adding the two-drug abortion regimen to their list of publicly funded drugs, meaning women will have to reach into their own wallets or rely on private insurance to pay for Mifegymiso.

This "essential step" is called the Common Drug Review.

Today the Globe published an editorial.

Already the victims of Health Canada’s glacial bureaucracy, and of its paternalistic view of their ability to safely administer prescription drugs to themselves, Canadian women waiting to be able to use the most commonly prescribed medical abortion treatment in the world woke up to a fresh slap in the face on Monday.

The editorial recalls the ridiculously long and tortured approval process in Canada and points out that RU486, or mifepristone, has been available since 1987 in France, since 2000 in the US.

The writers also note that abortion is a common medical procedure, with surgical abortion being delivered at no cost as part of taxpayer-funded Medicare.

This latest bad news – that women will have to pay for a medical treatment to which they have a right – is the last straw. Ottawa should find a way to waive the cost of the Common Drug Review and make Mifegymiso available for free as quickly as possible.

Want to see how a Feminist PM™ handled this situation?

Like this.

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.

This is what a Feminist PM™ looks like.

This is what a Fake Feminist PM™ looks like.

UPDATE: Rules changed on fees for Common Drug Review during the process.

HUGE win for pro-choice in PEI

Well, that didn't take much.

Just three-plus decades.

A horrifying story of a woman needing medical care turned away from a Prince Edward Island hospital.

A clever guerrilla poster campaign featuring a likeness (maybe) of the Island's most famous fictional character.

Bunch of rallies and demonstrations.

A scathing video on abortion access in the Maritimes.

Oh, yeah, and a constitutional challenge.

Today, the government of PEI threw in the towel on abortion.

The Prince Edward Island government announced today that it will not oppose a constitutional challenge to provincial policies regarding access to in-province abortion services.

“Based on legal advice that current policies regarding access to in-province abortion services would likely be in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, government determined that the most responsible approach is to revise the policy rather than embark on a long and costly court case,” said Premier and Minister of Justice Wade MacLauchlan.

Not only that, Health PEI will open a new women's reproductive health centre that will offer medical and surgical abortions, along with other needed reproductive care.

Abortion had been available in PEI until 1982 when two hospitals merged, on the condition from the Catlick one that abortion be banned.

Aaaaand cue the lying liars.

@JustinTrudeau Extremely disappointed that #PEI health practitioners will now be forced to kill babies.

— Mike Schouten (@mike_schouten) March 31, 2016

Nobody is being forced to do anything, Mike, least of all "kill babies."

Access to abortion in Canada is not uniformly good. A government's acknowledgement that denying abortion is a constitutional no-no is a HUGE step forward.

Brava! and Bravo! to all the hard-working, committed, and smart activists who made this happen.

But, of course, there's still much to do.



DAMMIT JANET! has been on PEI's case for ages. Some previous blogposts.


ADDED: Why have I not heard of this blog before? Screaming in All Caps on PEI win.

Health Minister Philpott Blows a Dog Whistle

Health Minister Jane Philpott blew an anti-choice dog whistle on Tuesday. Did you catch it?

While pro-choice activists marched through Charlottetown's streets to protest the lack of abortion services on P.E.I., the issue received some attention in the House of Commons Tuesday.

It came in the form of a question from the NDP MP from Nanaimo-Ladysmith, Sheila Malcolmson, who said the service must be available to all Canadian women.

...

[Health Minister Jane Philpott] pointed out that abortion is not the only service not available across the country.

"There are inequities in access to a number of health services across the country, including abortion," she said.

"There should be access to all medically-necessary services on the basis of need and not on the basis of ability to pay. I will continue to work with my colleagues to make sure access is available to all Canadians."

Before I get to the dog whistle, let me address Philpott's assertion that other services are not available across the country. Yes, indeed, this is true. Smaller centres do not have the expensive equipment or trained specialists to carry out a number of procedures, like organ transplants, complicated surgeries, etc.

But abortion, especially the more than 90% done in the first trimester, requires no expensive equipment or extensive training. In fact, if a hospital or clinic can treat a miscarriage, it can perform abortions.

In PEI, the government inexplicably turned down a proposal to provide abortion services on the island that would have actually saved money.

So, the argument that abortion is in the same category as a coronary by-pass is a non-starter. And Minister Philpott is being disingenuous at the very least to suggest it is.

Back to the dog whistle. It's the "medically necessary" (with the grammatically unnecessary hyphen) bit.

"Medically necessary" appears just once in the Canada Health Act, under "interpretations".

hospital services means any of the following services provided to in-patients or out-patients at a hospital, if the services are medically necessary for the purpose of maintaining health, preventing disease or diagnosing or treating an injury, illness or disability, namely....

But google "medically necessary abortion" and you'll find a slew of fetus fetishist screeds like this one: "Abortion is Never Medically Necessary to Save a Mother's Life, This Case Shows Why."

If you haven't had a whanging headache in a while and feel the need, read the mental gymnastics fetus freaks perform around ectopic pregnancy or the totally unnecessary death from septic miscarriage of Savita Halappanavar, in order to maintain the fantasy that abortion is never medically necessary.

"Pregnancy/childbirth is not a disease!" they SHRIEEEEEK. No, but it has significant risks and, in fact, a higher mortality rate than abortion.

The phrase "medically necessary" from the mouth of the Liberal Health Minister is simply music to fetus freak ears.

It is used by provinces like PEI and New Brunswick to restrict funding of abortion. And, it sounds like Minister Philpott is going to continue to give them this wiggle room.

This is worrying, to say the least. Especially as Philpott herself is a bit conflicted on the issue. From a 2014 article on vetting Liberal candidates, here what she had to say about it:

“That’s where we need to clarify the nuance on it,” she said. “I can support the policy but abortion is not a great thing.”

Oh lard, that "nuancy" thing again.

When so-called progressives go nuancy on abortion, it does NOT bode well.

Here, by the way, is the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada's position paper (pdf) on "medically required abortion."

Abortion in Canada: Good and Not Nearly Good Enough News

To its credit, Global News has been running several stories lately about abortion -- especially abortion access -- in Canada.

Yesterday, it had two.

First, a new poll on unrestricted abortion.

Canadian attitudes toward abortion appear to be shifting, according to a new Ipsos poll, as six in ten say abortion should be permitted whenever a woman decides she wants.

The Ipsos poll, given exclusively to Global News, found 57 per cent of Canadians endorse a women’s right to choose – up almost 10 points from 2015 and up from 36 per cent from when the question was asked in 1998.

Here's the graphic from the article:

When I tweeted that last night, Mike Schouten of We Need a Law, Any Old Law, Seriously, Give Us an Abortion Law to Fuck Around with as in the US, replied.

@fernhilldammit Likely b/c most Canadians haven't seen what abortion is. #stillworktodo pic.twitter.com/WKsmti6iAR

— Mike Schouten (@mike_schouten) February 24, 2016

Fetus fetishists like him seem NOT to get the message. Back in 2012, as antichoicers were trying to ignite the abortion "debate" yet again, various polls reported that Canadians did not want to reopen the debate, but when actually asked, the majority of us responded to the law of unintended consequences.

The National Post reported: "As debate heats up, Canadian support for unrestricted abortions skyrockets."

So, yes, please, Mike, keep trying to show us what abortion is.

The other story was about the plan by new Health Minister, Jane Philpott, to address abortion access.

Well, it seems, she doesn't have much of a plan beyond "checking" on the provinces.

Also, in the video clip at the link, at least, she can't seem to say the word "abortion."

Bulletin, Madam Minister: the purpose of the Canada Health Act, a federal law, is:

The purpose of this Act is to establish criteria and conditions in respect of insured health services and extended health care services provided under provincial law that must be met before a full cash contribution may be made.

The program criteria is:

In order that a province may qualify for a full cash contribution referred to in section 5 for a fiscal year, the health care insurance plan of the province must, throughout the fiscal year, satisfy the criteria described in sections 8 to 12 respecting the following matters:
(a) public administration;
(b) comprehensiveness;
(c) universality;
(d) portability; and
(e) accessibility.

That's a pretty big stick you've got there, Madame Minister. We'd would like to see the most pro-choice government evah wield it around a bit.

Guerrill-Anne: A Beautiful Corrective

This is genius, taken both at face (heh) value and a little deeper.

In an article titled "Anne-tagonizing posters connect icon to P.E.I. abortion debate," The Guardian says:

P.E.I.'s most famous fictional character has become part of the province's ongoing abortion debate.

The next paragraph refers to Anne of Green Gables.

But the anonymous person or group, who goes by the handle Karats, has made no such claim. I find it interesting that probably only in PEI (and maybe Japan) would such an image be assumed to be the "feisty" red-haired character created by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

In fact, a commenter called "J" at the Guardian link says: "Who said it's Anne? Maybe it's Wendy? LOL."

Here is Karats's manifesto, if it is such:

Karats is the voice of a community calling for justice.

Karats sees the effects that the lack of abortion access has across PEI, in particular for low income individuals, and other vulnerable populations.

She sees the denial of access and upholding of barriers to abortion services by the PEI government as putting the kibosh on an opportunity for gender equality across our province.

Karats is trying to generate conversation on the topic and encourage the Premier and the government to enthusiastically concede the pending court case brought forward by AANPEI and LEAF. [link added]

“#HeyWade - Take this opportunity to not only bring access to the Island but to proudly show you support Island women gaining control over their health and lives. Be the Premier who brings PEI into the 21st century!”

For more information, please contact:
Karats
Twitter- @iamkarats

The guerill-Anne asks that people look for the poster and snap photos to be sent to an Instagram account. If you visit the site, you'll see that Karats gets around a bit.

Posters started appearing on January 28, the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, R v Morgentaler, striking down Canada's existing abortion law in 1988.

The upcoming court case in the manifesto was announced on January 5, by the newly formed group, Abortion Access Now PEI.

Abortion Access Now PEI says it is taking the province to court to force it to provide full and unrestricted access to publicly funded abortion services on the Island.

The group says it has filed a notice of application in the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island against the P.E.I. government. Under the Crown Proceedings Act, any group filing a lawsuit against the province is required to provide notice of 90 days.

"For over two decades, we have advocated for on-Island, safe, legal access to abortion," Ann Wheatley, co-chair of Abortion Access Now PEI, said in a news release.

DAMMIT JANET! has been covering this stupid situation for years. Some background can be found here.

Of course, the fetus freak reaction was completely predictable. In an article that starts off "Yuck!" LieShite misrepresents the character's background (ooo, lying again???) to make its glurgey point, stating that Anne was "unwanted," adopted, yet "life-loving." So, according to "pro-life logic," all unwanted, adopted children will grow up to star in famous fictional series.

(Anne was not "unwanted," by the way. She was orphaned because her biological parents died.)

In addition to the photos at Instagram, the campaign has generated lots of interest. Here's Karats responding to a question about the bandana.

Hey! @DaybirdElyse No significance to the design on my bandana. I just wear it to stay fresh while I kick up a stink. ✊

— Karats (@iamkarats) February 1, 2016

When the analysis gets literary, it gets even more interesting.

(Full disclosure: I was not a great Anne-fan. My mother was, and that was perhaps enough to turn me off.)

At Vocative, Tracy Moore quotes a fetus freak calling the choice of Anne ironic "because she’s the epitome of the unexpected blessings of choosing life even in challenging and non-idyllic circumstances," and continues:

But literature professors who focus on children’s lit and are familiar with the series and character say it’s not quite so obvious. “Yes, she had a pretty tough childhood,” says English professor Philip Nel at Kansas State University, who has taught the books. “She’s orphaned when she’s young; her parents die, and she ends up having some bad early experiences. She initially works for people who exploit her and use her to raise other kids.”

But, he adds, there are a lot of ways you could use her as a feminist icon for your cause, also. “She’s outspoken, she’s independent, she competes with Gilbert Blythe in school and is very smart.”

Another professor of children’s literature on the East Coast who didn’t wish to be identified [????] said it depends on the interpretation of both the books and the abortion issue. Even though Anne is orphaned in the book and taken to live with the Cuthberts, her background doesn’t figure as tragically as it sounds, nor does she fit a standard narrative of the unwanted child typically presented as a candidate for abortion in the language used by the debates.

“Her parents die of an accidental illness, but they weren’t impoverished or indigent,” he said. “Eventually in the series, she finds their house and some of their things, and discovers they were a loving couple with a home, and she was wanted and loved.”

He says a so-called militant feminist interpretation of Anne isn’t off the map, though. “Anne makes her own choices. She puts off marriage. There’s a romance plot, but she spends a lot of time putting it off to pursue things she’s interested in—education, friendships, work, writing. No, she’s not radical about it, but she’s very self possessed and very self-assured.”

At BookRiot, Brenna Clarke Gray says:

First, while Anne exists in a world before feminism, she’s a strong proponent of women having agency in their own lives. Her decisions — to be educated, to teach, to write, and to marry — are all her own choices, made freely. And Anne loved babies and cherished her own children, to be sure, but she also knew what it was to be unloved, unwanted, and abandoned. She knew pain and tragedy and she sought to limit both in the lives of people around her. Her face makes perfect sense in a campaign that, at its core, seeks to do the same thing.

Second, as scholars such as Herb Wylie have pointed out, PEI (and Atlantic Canada as a whole) is trapped by the expectations that narratives like Anne of Green Gables create: when tourism depends on a version of yourself that is trapped in a quaintly backwards time, social progress becomes undesirable. To co-opt an image like Anne that has been tied to one particular version of what PEI can be, and to use it to agitate for a more progressive society, is a beautiful corrective.

As I said at the start, the campaign is genius.

Simple enough to get fetus freak knickers in knots.

But nuanced and rich in more intelligent interpretation.

May it succeed and prove "a brilliant corrective" to an idiotic situation.

Abortion: Once and For All

My entire blogging career -- if you can call something that doesn't pay a "career" -- has been conducted during the Dark Ages.

It started back at Birth Pangs, now sadly gone but snippets have been saved at the WayBack Machine (hours of fun!). Birth Pangs was focussed on reproductive rights just about exclusively.

We created DJ! in 2009. Our birthday was yesterday.

With DJ! we spread our focus, but I -- and deBeauxOs to a lesser extent -- stayed on the repro rights beat.

I've been thinking about what I want to do now that the Dark Ages are over and we don't have to remain constantly on guard for sneaky fuckery from Conservative misogynist nutbars.

I've decided to go on the offensive.

According to the fetus freaks, we now have the most "pro-abortion" PM EVAH! Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) reckons the anti-choice brigade in the House of Commons has been halved, from 38% to 18% and ALL of them are in minority opposition.

The Liberals ran on some pretty big promises to women, specifically on abortion access.

I propose we not only hold the government to those promises but push for more.

Here is ARCC's list of demands.
• Enforce Canada Health Act against NB and PEI – i.e., arbitrate to resolve access/funding issues, and if the provinces still don’t comply, withhold federal transfer payments.
• To reduce abortion, fully fund most contraception through Medicare (the Pill, IUDs, Depo, emergency contraception, etc.).
• Increase number of hospitals that provide abortions outside major cities.
• Increase medical school training in abortion; provide continuing education in abortion techniques to existing doctors.
• Incentivize and support doctors to provide abortions in smaller communities.
• Prohibit so-called “conscientious objection” in reproductive healthcare, or at least require referrals and discipline doctors who disobey.
• Screen out anti-choice medical students before they enter the Family Planning program or Obstetrics/Gynecology specialty (inability to fulfill job requirements should make them ineligible).

To which I would add:
• Require comprehensive sex ed, including consent and gay and trans rights, in every publicly funded school.
• Regulate and license so-called Crisis Pregnancy Centres to ensure they are telling the truth and treating "clients" respectfully and responsibly. Shut them down if they don't.
• Create a media climate in which any reporter who goes to a fetus freak for a "balancing" comment on a proposal that should be judged on its own merits gets laughed out of the room.
• Crowdfund as necessary to bring suit against organizations and pundits that tell outrageous lies about sexual health and reproductive law.

Of course there are other important things on the feminist agenda that we will continue to work on, like violence against women, child care, equal pay, decriminalizing sex work, and so on.

But I think we have a historic opportunity to get this one done. Once and for all.

Canada is a pro-choice country. We have the chance to move our institutions, media, and culture to the point of no return. Where it will become simply unthinkable for anyone to question a woman's right to make her own decisions on her own life.

We can discredit, delegitimate, disrupt, and demoralize the anti-choicers so that only the most insane of them think it's worth their time to continue.

We can do this. And serve as a beacon of compassion and sanity to the world.

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.

Abortion Access in the Maritimes

Here at DAMMIT JANET! we have blogged extensively (compulsively?) on abortion access, especially in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

Now, VICE has produced a 33-minute documentary on abortion access in the Maritimes.

Abortion has been a legal medical procedure in Canada for more than 25 years, but in spite of that, access varies widely across the country. Urban residents are far likelier to have easy access to the procedure, while rural people may face extra costs and time requirements like travel and figuring out where to go.

In this edition of VICE Canada Reports, Sarah Ratchford investigates abortion access in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, two provinces with restricted access to abortions and conservative political climates that make access a difficult issue even to discuss. She attends a pro-life rally crashed by pro-choice activists, goes undercover into a pregnancy crisis center, and talks to an activist helping people access under-the-counter abortions in Prince Edward Island (PEI).

Much work yet to do.

Saskatchewan: The Next Battle Front

Reproductive rights activists in Canada know that while we've won the war over lawless abortion, we're still waging countless battles over access.

Recently, the focus has been on Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, where small but long-overdue victories have been achieved by a new generation of pro-choice crusaders.

Last week, The Star Phoenix ran four articles on the state of abortion access in Saskatchewan, beginning with an editorial, titled "Silence on abortion is unsafe."

It seems that people are afraid to speak.

When it comes to the issue of access to abortion in Saskatoon, silence speaks volumes.

The StarPhoenix has been investigating the topic for months, and perhaps the most telling truth to come from that work is something that isn't in the stories. The fear of sources to speak in public was a common thread running through all attempts to report on abortion services in the health region.

Researchers told a reporter they simply could not risk speaking out.

After months of searching, only one woman who had an abortion would speak on the record. A pseudonym was used because she feared repercussions in her personal life and from the public.

Of course, the fetus freaks weren't afraid to issue their usual BS under the title "Easy access is not the answer."

A four-page article details the difficulties in getting an abortion in the province.

Saskatoon is one of the most difficult places in Canada to get an abortion, leaving women to navigate a political maze, advocates say.

Along with a Halifax hospital, Saskatoon is the second-last Canadian site where a woman can’t simply make a call to set up the procedure — she needs a doctor’s blessing.

In Regina, women can self-refer, but not in Saskatoon? WTF is up with that?

And, if possible, things are even grimmer for women in the north.

Women get run around, forced to make multiple appointments, then when time runs out, get referred out of province, typically Alberta. Travel costs are, of course, NOT covered.

And time limits differ for the only two centres that do abortions: 16 weeks in Regina, 12 weeks in Saskatoon.

One abortion provider, Dr John Thiel, would speak on the record.

Thiel’s practice is based in Regina, and he is a former chair of the Regina women’s clinic. He has limited knowledge of how the process works in Saskatoon. However, when The StarPhoenix requested an interview, he was the only spokesman the health region was willing to put forward.

“Things are done differently (in the two cities), but I don’t think they’re done differently to the detriment of patient care,” Thiel said.

He has an appetite for change and improvement, he said.
...
Thiel said he can’t understand why Saskatchewan has no free-standing abortion clinic like five other provinces do, including Manitoba.

The less-than-12-week limit on abortions in Saskatoon is due to a 20-year-old decision by doctors to pull the plug on second-trimester abortions.

The further along a pregnancy is, the more technically challenging it is to remove the fetus, Thiel said. Not all gynecologists have the specific skill set needed.

Huh? No qualified gynecologists want to practice in Saskatoon?

And there are two more abortion skirmishes going on: a (doomed) effort by fetus freaks to require parental consent on abortion for minors and a move by the Saskatchewan College of Physicians to update their guidelines on conscience rights, rightly seen as an attempt to drag the medicos into the 21st century. That move is now on hold, probably awaiting the outcome of a suit in Ontario over a similar move by the College there.

So while the focus has been on New Brunswick (population: 750K) and PEI (population:140K), the appalling situation in Saskatchewan (population: over 1 million) has been flying under the radar.

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. Of SK's 14 MPs (13 Conservatives and Ralph Goodale), all the Cons are rated anti-choice by Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada. These include arch anti-choicers Brad Trost and Maurice Vellacott.

While The Star Phoenix is to be applauded for its reporting, we find it odd that there are no comments allowed on the stories.

Do they want to break the silence? Or just wring its editorial hands over it?

It seems we've got another front to get moving on. Saskatchewan, here we come.

PEI: Tiny Step Forward But Not Nearly Enough

First, the good news. After more than 30 years, the women of Prince Edward Island have regained a tiny bit of autonomy.

The Province of P.E.I. has made arrangements with Moncton Hospital to provide access to abortions without a referral from a doctor or Health PEI.

The new system will allow P.E.I. women to call a toll-free number and make an appointment for an abortion at the Moncton N.B. hospital.

Like women in the rest of Canada, PEI women will now be able to make up their own damn minds about their reproductive lives and self-refer for abortion. The new arrangements also mean they don't have go through a demeaning and deliberately shaming run-around to get preliminary bloodwork and unnecessary ultrasounds done on the Island as detailed so heartbreakingly in stories at The Sovereign Uterus.

The bad news is:

.@WadePEILiberal & @DougCurrie speak of barriers to abortion access for #PEI women, but ignore one major barrier: the Northumberland Strait

— Megan Glover (@MeganAGlover) June 2, 2015

The trip to Moncton is about two hours shorter than the trip to Halifax, but still entails a $45 bridge toll, gas money, time off work, child care arrangements, and if the timing doesn't work, overnight accommodation.

None of which is paid for under the new deal.

And what if someone doesn't have access to a vehicle? And what if one has the bad luck to need an abortion in shitty weather when the bridge closes?

And the new arrangements do nothing about abysmal abortion after-care described by Courtney Cudmore.

And the government still refuses to explain why it rejects an alternative plan to offer abortion services in PEI that would have cut the stress and costs on patients and actually save money.

Of course, the fetus freaks are whining.

Opponents of abortion are denouncing the P.E.I. government’s easing of access to abortion services for Island women, saying the changes will create ‘abortion on demand.’

Holly Pierlot, president of the P.E.I. Right To Life Association, says her organization is ‘extremely disappointed’ by the announcement Tuesday that P.E.I. has a new agreement with Moncton Hospital allowing P.E.I. women to call toll-free to arrange an abortion without first having to get two doctor’s referrals, an ultrasound and blood work, as is the current requirement for abortions in Halifax.

“Without a doctor’s referral, it effectively makes it abortion on demand,” Pierlot says.

Eeek! Abortion on demand!!!!

Yes, exactly like all other Canadians.

And don't forget: Abortion was available on PEI until 1982 when an unholy alliance was made between the Catlick hospital and the secular one, with the province bending over for the Catlick demand of "no abortions ever."

Self-referral is good. End to the gleeful runaround perpetrated by fetus freaks in the healthcare system is good. Shorter trip is good.

But not good enough.

PEI women are entitled to the same services as all other Canadians.

And you can bet your ass they're working on it and will win.

BONUS: Good overview of abortion access in Canada.

ADDED: No Province Should Deny Women Abortions

New Brunswick Happy Dance

First, the news that New Brunswick is entering the 20th century on women's rights.

Next, some celebratory media releases from groups that worked their butts off for this:

Reproductive Justice New Brunswick,
Sexual Health and Rights, and
Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada.

And a sample of the predictable and ridiculous foot-stomping from the Fetus Freaks: LifeShite and Fetal Gore Pr0n Gang.

Here at DJ!, where we like to think we helped a little, the main take-aways are:

1. This is a grand success for a new generation of reproductive justice activists. It looks good on them and must feel fabulous and empowering.

2. The mouldy old men and their antiquated views on women are finally succumbing to the reality of modern pro-choice Canada, or as this writer puts it, we may be entering a more enlightened time on women's issues.

Of course, while Premier Gallant addressed his promise on access surprisingly quickly and with minimum fuss, there's more to do, principally to take abortion out of the exclusive purview of hospitals and widen access by funding the procedure in clinics and doctors' offices.

One quick and easy way to widen access -- not just for women in Atlantic Canada, but for all Canadian women, especially those in rural and remote areas -- is for Health Canada to stop dragging its feet and finally approve the "gold standard" of medical abortion.

While lamenting the general state of access in Canada, this Canadian Medical Association Journal article seems hopeful on the issue.

And here, Vicky Saporta may be tempting the Goddesses.

The drug is currently up for review by Health Canada, and some close to the process believe a ruling will be made in January 2015, according to Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation.

So, with a loud KNOCK WOOD, here's our happy dance.

Next, PEI.

UPDATE: Contributed by DJ! pal trapdinawrpool:

Shocker! Responsible Abortion Reporting from National Post!

Crazy busy, but a quick post because I want to encourage responsible reporting about abortion. Here is the National Post's story on a report about abortion access in Canada. [Spoiler: Access needs a lot of improvement.]

Because people either don't know or forget from one abortion story to the next, the NP piece includes this de rigueur statement.

There is currently no federal law governing abortion in Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada struck down the country’s previous abortion law as unconstitutional in 1988.

Clear on that, are we?

Here's the new and admirable bit.

Abortion is governed by guidelines adopted by professional associations. The vast majority of elective abortions happen before 12 weeks, according to data collated by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. It’s virtually impossible for women to access the procedure past 24 weeks without a compelling medical reason.

Note the change from this piece of bullshit from new Walrus editor Jonathan Kay in February 2013.

The fact is that Canada is the only nation in the Western world without any abortion law. It is perfectly legal in Canada to have or perform an abortion — for any reason, or no reason at all — at 20, 25, 30 or 35 weeks gestation. This is a disturbing state of affairs.

What's disturbing is that a self-proclaimed "national" newspaper continued for so long to try to stir up Da Base on the settled matter of legal abortion. (Access, as the links above show, is another issue altogether.)

Maybe, just maybe, the powers that be are wising up to the notion that demonizing abortion is in direct conflict with the views of the majority of Canadians who are decidedly pro-choice.

So, provisional "yay" to Natty Po! We'll be watching to see that you keep up the good work.

Bonus: Graphic accompanying the NP story. Useful information.

UPDATE: From King Rat in the comments: According to Live-Action News, Canada is Abortion Heaven. Or, every stupid lie about abortion in Canada in one conveeeeenient POS.

Rally: Equal Access Now

It's never over. But judging by the increasing desperation of the Fetus Freaks, we may be winning (a little).

This Saturday, prochoice activists and allies are rallying in support of the current struggle for reproductive justice (pdf) in PEI and New Brunswick.

Reproductive Justice Rallies Across the Country: Sep 20

National Day of Action in Solidarity with New Brunswick and PEI: Equal Access Now!

Reproductive justice activists across the country will be rallying this Saturday September 20 to stand in solidarity with the citizens of New Brunswick and PEI, who lack access to abortion. The former Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton was forced to close in July for financial reasons, because the provincial government had refused to fund it for 20 years in violation of federal law and Supreme Court precedent. The province continues to refuse to improve access, even though many women are now being forced to travel out of province.

In Prince Edward Island, Health PEI blocked the application of three doctors willing to provide abortions at the Charlottetown hospital, saying "it was not in line with current government policies." But the PEI government does not have a policy on abortion, or any other excuse. The proposal was cost-neutral, and lack of a provider has been the only barrier to providing services on-Island.

Across Canada, especially in northern, rural, conservative, and low-income areas, there is often a lack of access to basic sexual and reproductive health services (SRH) and information. The most vulnerable usually pay the highest price, including youth, LGBTQ people, Aboriginals, refugees, racialized communities, people with disabilities or health issues, and those of low income. To achieve equality and justice, women and marginalized communities in NB, PEI, and across Canada are demanding recognition of their rights, and Equal Access Now to services.

More information and local contacts at the link.

Facebook pages:

National
Halifax
New Brunswick (several cities)
Charlottetown
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver

Please share widely and attend if you can.

Update on the Save the Clinic Campaign

All along, the fundraising campaign by Reproductive Justice New Brunswick was nothing more than a stop-gap, intended to ensure the continuing possibility of an abortion clinic that accepted self-referring patients.

Having hit the initial goal of $100,000 last week, yesterday they announced they're raising their sights in order to buy necessary equipment.

The words "Thank you" don't feel big enough to express the gratitude that we at Reproductive Justice New Brunswick are feeling right now. To surpass our original goal in the first 2 weeks of our campaign? There are no words! Thank you, thank you all, for your support.

We are still a long way from our final goals, however. Negotiations continue with the owner of the former Morgentaler Clinic to secure an agreement to manage the building. Now we are asking for your support and enthusiasm to move forward with Phase 2 of our goals. For a further $85,000 we can potentially buy all the equipment currently located at the clinic; equipment that is required to provide a full range of reproductive health services.  It’s a bargain we don’t want to miss but we need your help. 

RJNB will also continue to lobby the New Brunswick government to change Regulation 84/20 that requires a woman to have the procedure deemed "medically necessary" in writing by an OB-GYN and another doctor, in order to obtain a publicly funded abortion in one of 2 hospitals.

The government still refuses to even meet with us to discuss a change. Until the people of New Brunswick have the same right as other Canadians to the reproductive health care of their choice, where and when they want it, we will never have true equality in New Brunswick. RJNB, with your help, pledges to continue the fight until the people of the Maritimes have access to a full range of publicly funded reproductive health services.

That the Conservative government won't even meet with them is hardly a surprise, but given an upcoming provincial election that the Liberals seem poised to win, this is a little harder to stomach.

Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s pro-choice stand is reverberating through New Brunswick, where abortion-rights activists are vowing to make the closing of the Fredericton Morgentaler clinic an election issue – and the provincial Liberal leader is offering little support.

Justin and Brian look pretty cozy here, don't they?

Maybe chicken-shit Gallant is scared of people like this.

Some New Brunswickers, such as Kelly Seale, want less access to abortions, not more.

"Soon as I walk by there, I feel a very strong feeling of the devil. Yeah," said Seale, who works at an anti-abortion centre next door to the clinic.

Well, OK then. The anti-Satan voting bloc must be MASSIVE in Brunswick.

Here's a good round-up on the state of abortion access in Canada by Press Progress. Graphic is from Canadians for Choice.

If you were thinking of donating but didn't get around to it, then thought "Great, they've hit their goal," please think again.

Something else you could do is simply tell someone about the situation in NB and PEI. From the comments at the fundraising site, on various media stories, and blogs like Trashy's World, it's clear that there are a shit-ton of Canadians who have no idea what Maritime women are up against.

Most Canadians consider abortion a non-issue, a done deal -- and are shocked to find out that that's a big fat lie for thousands of us.

New Brunswick Activists Push Back, Canadians Respond Generously

I've been watching the fundraising efforts by Reproductive Justice New Brunswick. They are trying to raise $100,000 to secure the lease on the Fredericton Morgentaler Clinic, which is closing this week.

At about 8:30 this morning, the total stood at $18,400 with just 17 days left in the campaign.

Sometime soon after that, a piece in the Globe and Mail titled "Abortion in New Brunswick: The vise tightens, and activists push back" appeared.

By 11 a.m., the total had zoomed to more than $32,000 and as of just now (6:30 p.m.) it stands at more than $51,000.

As comments at the fundraising site and on the Globe article indicate, people across the country are shocked by the New Brunswick government's cavalier attitude towards women's rights. Canadians find it appalling that not all of us have equal access to healthcare. Some of us were under the impression that we'd fought this battle and won.

Surprise!

Donations are not the answer of course. This is merely a stop-gap.

The goal is to force the NB government to repeal its idiotic Regulation 84-20 so that women of the province can have medicare-funded, self-referred abortions like other Canadians.

And no, we haven't forgotten Prince Edward Island, where the attitude towards women's healthcare is similarly antediluvian.

If you can, please consider a donation and spread the word among your friends and networks.

For those who prefer to use cheques, you can mail them to Reproductive Justice New Brunswick at PO Box 761, Stn. A, Fredericton NB E3B 5B4.

Here's a tweet from one of the organizers today.

In my life, I have never felt more love in my heart than I do today. This adopted kid is forever grateful. #NBProchoice #SaveTheClinic

— Kathleen Pye (@KathleenCanada) July 14, 2014

UPDATE: The Star.

UPDATE (July 15/14, 5:45 p.m.): On Twitter, I've been razzing CBC all day about this story not being newsworthy enough to cover. As the numbers zoomed up today -- from $64K at 7 a.m. this morning to $75K just after noon to over $82K now -- I kept at them. Finally, the magic number was reached. At $82K they weighed in. Maybe now that the goal of $100K looks assured, they can rest easy that they won't be accused of being anything so wildly anti Conservative Canadian as pro-healthcare for all.

Healthcare: Unequal Access Is UnCanadian

Sound familiar?

Although abortion has been legal for 41 years in the U.S. and it is a very safe procedure, we still face many challenges.

Since legalization, we have faced a relentless anti-choice movement that is well-funded and organized, and backed by Evangelical and Catholic churches. More recently, those within the movement have shifted their focus from making abortion illegal to making it inaccessible.
....

These restrictions have led to a situation where even though abortion is still legal in all 50 states, a woman’s access to care in the U.S. is largely dependent on where she lives and often her economic status.

Hell, New Brunswick practically invented TRAP (targetted regulation of abortion providers) laws, with its Regulation 84-20.

Abortion is legal in Canada, sure. But in PEI, it is just not done, and in New Brunswick, the province won't fund it unless TWO doctors give PERMISSION.

PERMISSION.

Canadians elsewhere can make their own damn decisions and refer themselves to an appropriate health care provider.

Is it OK that such a right depends on where you live and whether you can pay?

Emma doesn't think so.

If you'd like to see this situation corrected, consider contributing to Reproductive Justice New Brunswick's first step in guaranteeing equal abortion rights for all.

Emma the Embryo visits us courtesy of the fab Alison of Creekside.


UPDATE: And now for people who prefer to donate by cheque, a mailing address:

A huge thank you to all the support we've received already!! For those who want to mail a cheque to RJNB instead of doing an online donation, our mailing address is: PO Box 761 Stn. A Fredericton NB E3B5B4

Again, a huge thank you to everyone who has donated already!!!

Feminism: This Is How It's Done Now

We old farts remember the Abortion Caravan, Canada's first national feminist protest in 19fucking70.

It seems we haven't come a whole helluva long way since. In New Brunswick, women still need the permission of TWO doctors to obtain a medicare-paid abortion.

For years, the Morgentaler Clinic provided a pressure release valve, enabling at least those women who could pay to get the same medical care that most Canadians (except in poor PEI too) had fully funded.

After running at a loss since its opening, the clinic is closing this month.

The Government of New Brunswick -- which, by the way, does not need to change a law but merely a regulation to right this idiotic situation -- was warned months ago.

How did it respond? It sent women wanting information on abortion to fake clinics run by religious anti-abortion nuts.

Yep. In Canada. Not Louisiana or Kansas. In Canada.

The good people of NB are, as usual, light-years ahead of their government and have taken matters into their own hands.

This is how kickass feminists do things now.

They are crowdsourcing the first step -- ensuring that the lease on the building is funded.

Reproductive Justice NB has begun an effort to lease the existing Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton. The collective is in discussion with the building’s owners to enter into a lease agreement and further explore options to encourage family practitioners who support a person’s right to full reproductive services, including the right to abortion. The estimate cost of the lease agreement is $100,000.

While securing a lease agreement is a bandaid solution and does not automatically mean New Brunswickers will have improved abortion access, it does give the people of New Brunswick a fighting chance to access their rights under the Charter of Rights and the Canada Health Act.

Please consider helping Reproductive Justice New Brunswick reach this important goal.

Every donation, however large or small, is one step closer to ensuring reproductive choice in New Brunswick. Unless this oppressive regulation is overturned, New Brunswickers will not have equal access to abortion services. If Reproductive Justice NB is unable to raise the full $100,000, all money raised will go towards renewed efforts to overturn the Medical Services Payment Act.

Fact sheet (pdf) here.

As a former kickass young feminist too poor to do anything but protest back then, I salute the newest generation and have donated a few bucks. If you can't, please help spread the word.


ADDED: The media release from Reproductive Justice New Brunswick.

ADDED: Media coverage. CBC.

Getting Physical in New Brunswick

In New Brunswick, it is certainly Game On.

A new organization, Reproductive Justice New Brunswick, has organized a Twitter campaign for this week. It targets specific anti-choice legislators each day.

Please support this uprising using hashtags #NBProchoice and #ProchoixNB.

A bit of a snag. Like antediluvian governments elsewhere, New Brunswick refuses to acknowledge electronic communication as real. Convenient, eh?

Somebody has come up with a work-around. Send your emails here for printing and mailing.

As the tagline states: Let's get physical. And force New Brunswick into the 21st century.

Anti-Choice: Voice in the Wilderness

Further to my most recent post, there are more indications that the fetus fetishists are increasingly nervous, especially over renewed resolve and activism in New Brunswick.

From the recent NB Liberal policy meeting:

The most significant shift from the weekend came on abortion rights as two resolutions were overwhelmingly approved by grassroots members. The resolutions broke from the policy first established by former Liberal premier Frank McKenna.

The two policies refer to family planning services and reproductive health but the meaning was clear: with the pending closure of the Morgentaler clinic, Liberals now support greater access to abortion in hospitals.

Wendy Robbins, a Liberal member, helped draft the wording of the resolutions.

"This is a clear signal that the party's moving beyond the position it's held in the past,” she said.

Even more interesting -- and encouraging to us sane people -- is this from a Telegraph-Journal story (behind paywall).

Geneviève Gagné, president of the New Brunswick Young Liberal Association, called for “access to a full-range of publicly funded family planning information and services.”

“I think every woman should have access to abortions or any information she needs to provide adequate family planning information to her,” the 20-year old Gagné said.

Gagné’s amendment came right after another delegate could not find a second person to support an amendment she had proposed to restrict abortion to medically necessary cases and to promote a culture of life.

Fredericton delegate Nancy MacAfee said she was surprised no one else in the room was willing to support her motion for right to life.

“I was flabbergasted. I know the mentality of people has changed a lot. … I felt like a voice in the wilderness,” she said.

Voice in the wilderness. Ayup.