https://twitter.com/
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/09/36-senators-sign-letter-in-support-of.html
36 senators sign letter in support of Clinic 554
Clinic closure would 'impair access to hard won Charter-protected rights,' letter states
CBC News · Posted: Sep 30, 2020 4:01 PM AT
Thirty-six senators have signed a letter in support of Clinic 554 in Fredericton, the only location in New Brunswick that offers surgical abortions outside of hospitals.
The clinic, which also serves as a family practice and a resource centre for LGBTQ2 patients across the province, is expected to close Wednesday due to a lack of government funding.
"The closing of Clinic 554 would impair access to hard won Charter-protected rights," the letter released Tuesday night states.
In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada granted women the right to choose to have an abortion, without fear of prosecution.
"Yet, access to the reproductive rights conferred to women years ago by the highest court in the Land are still being restricted by provincial regulations and policies," the senators' statement said.
Medicare currently covers only abortions performed at three hospitals in the province, two in Moncton and one in Bathurst.
"While we appreciate that the provision of services per se … is a provincial jurisdiction, the truth is that … the services offered by the clinic are different in nature because they have been prescribed constitutionally by the Supreme Court," said Sen. Judith Keating, one of the five New Brunswick senators who signed the letter.
"So they're not on the same level as other services, and so the obligation of the province is to ensure that proper access is provided."
Instead, the province has "consistently restricted the right to access by imposing some regulatory controls," said Keating, who has legal and constitutional expertise, having served more than 30 years in a variety of roles with the provincial government before her appointment to the Senate in January.
She was the first woman to serve as deputy minister of Justice and deputy attorney general of New Brunswick. She also served as chief legislative counsel and chief legal advisor to the premier.
Premier Blaine Higgs was unavailable for an interview Wednesday, said spokesperson Nicolle Carlin.
"He doesn't have anything more to say in response than what was said [Monday]," she said in an email.
On Monday, Higgs told reporters he's concerned that funding abortions in private clinics would set a precedent.
"So if we're going to suggest … that it's more cost-effective to offer services in a private clinic, then where does that stop? Does that mean that we should continue to offer more and more services in private clinics and less and less services in public institutions?"
Higgs said it's "a slippery slope. And if you do it for one service, where does it stop?"
Keating disagrees.
"It's not a slippery slope, in my view, because the services and the access to services that we're talking about stem from rights, from granted rights," she said.
"And so it is up to the province, and it's the responsibility of the province to pay for the service when it's required. And that's not what's happened. And that's not what has happened for the last 30 years."
Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin disputes Higgs's claim that Clinic 554 is a private clinic and will lead to privatizing medical services.
She contends it's a family clinic like any other and that the premier has created a false narrative.
Atwin said she intends to keep pushing the issue with federal Health Minister Patty Hadju and plans to make a statement in the House of Commons on Thursday.
Earlier this year, the federal government found New Brunswick was violating the Canada Health Act by not covering out-of-hospital abortions under medicare and deducted $140,216 from its annual health transfer payments. That's the amount New Brunswickers spent out-of-pocket on abortions at a clinic in 2017, when they were supposed to be covered.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Ottawa decided to reimburse the money because of the pressure the novel coronavirus put on the health system, but said it was temporary and that discussions about reducing barriers to abortion were continuing.
The other New Brunswick senators who signed the letter of support include: René Cormier, Nancy Hartling, Sandra M. Lovelace Nicholas and Pierrette Ringuette.
"Senators should have their voices heard in situations where the curtailment of the exercise of the rights of citizens by any Canadian jurisdiction leads to a continual denial of those rights," the letter states.
"In a Constitutional Democracy such as ours, the substance and intent of Supreme Court decisions must be respected and applied."
The New Brunswick senators who did not sign are: Percy Mockler, Rose-May Poirier, David Richards and Carolyn Stewart Olsen.
Closing date unclear
It's unclear if Clinic 554 is closing Wednesday, as scheduled.
Dr. Adrian Edgar, who runs the clinic, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The clinic's administrator Valerie Edelman could not immediately be reached for comment either.
Edgar has applied to provide temporary visits for a small group of Clinic 554's "most vulnerable family practice patients, including those who require specialized care like abortion access, over the coming weeks to months," according to a post on the clinic's Facebook page on Sept. 23.
"If his application is approved, we will reach out to you," it states.
Last Friday, a group protesting the imminent closure of Clinic 554 had their tents removed from the grounds of the New Brunswick Legislature.
Speaker Daniel Guitard told CBC News on the weekend that he made the decision with the staff and advisory team after being told it was a longstanding practice not to permit tents on the property for security reasons.
Nah dumpsters would be like moving up to middle class for Dave
I must say that not once within all the diatribes on this issues did anyone mention whether Father's have any rights at all.
In my humble opinion if a woman does not wish to raise their child she should at the very least offer the little soul to the Father before she opts to abort..
Christie Blatchford: This protester has served 10 years and seven months in jail and no one cares
I’ve written about Canadians convicted of gun offences, sex assault, drunk driving, child abuse and manslaughter who have done significantly less time
Christie Blatchford Sep 02, 2015
Trust that I know from person experience that the police will falsely arrest you if the "Powers That Be" don't appreciate your politicking
Is there something special about being Black?
As we have just had an election. We've decided for the next four years,
A health act that has changed how many times over the years depending on who is in power?
Content disabled
Methinks there must be something in the water in Fat Fred City even the City Council shook its head at their poet last night N'esy Pas?
I don't know if that's something that's done in New Brunswick but, if it isn't, it should.
No woman should ever feel like she has to get an abortion just because of something as silly as financial need. There's plenty of money and resources in the world if we only help each other out when we need the help.
Does anyone know if either pro-lifers or the government or some organization does help women with financial need so they can have their babies if that's the only reason they care considering abortion?
They do want to change women's minds about getting abortions. That much is true.
But that wasn't my question.
My question was whether there are people who are willing to financially help out women who are going to get abortions because they think they cannot feed the baby or otherwise financially provide for him or her.
That's not necessarily a pro-life position. I would like to think that the pro-choice crowd would also not want women to make decisions about abortion out of financial necessity.
Helping expectant mothers with their financial needs is just a pro-woman thing to do, whoever offers that help.
There's the welfare trap currently for those who cannot afford to have their babies. CCB is great, but if you're living in poverty CCB would not help you enough, you'd be forced into Welfare. The building beside the clinic will probably tell women whatever they want to hear to make them miss the appointment, and because it's time sensitive, be unable to access their abortions.
You mean the building and services that were there before the original abortion clinic was set up beside it.
James what they aren't telling you is thst the abortion clinic was intentionally set up beside those other services thst were already there and established,
How much do you think the government should give women to have babies?
I think CCB is at a good place. But if you're just starting out, or a single parent, you'll likely be facing living in poverty because you have to stay home to raise said baby.
If we had UBI (the advocates for it in Canada say the money is there - without raising taxes - for less than the CERB at $1833 per adult over 18 per month) then that would be the amount. Raising everyone up to poverty level, ensuring every Canadian can live with dignity. There's that sweet spot (and CCB and UBI aims to hit that sweet spot) where there isn't incentive to have babies (because you aren't making money off of it, you're not even breaking even and covering basic needs only) and it's not incentive to not work (because UBI is Universal so the more you work the more you earn, opposite to the Welfare poverty trap).
Having affordable day care options for those that could use it, would help. But CCB is really decent -- especially compared to what women used to get just a few years ago (I had my child just a month before CCB came into place, and I could not imagine what women used to have to face, because the amount of help available was grossly insignificant). CCB and eventually a UBI would remove poverty from the equation. So that a woman wouldn't have to use poverty as a factor when seeking an abortion. Financial insecurity isn't the only reason women choose to have an abortion, but it is a factor.
The goal should be: every mother a willing mother, every child a wanted child, no child or Canadian living in poverty. It'd be a better world for all of us if those three things were met.
That's fair, right? We need to know why women are getting abortions to be able to provide the solutions to allow them to not abort their children.
Add to that Atwin is a member of the Green Party.... a party that can do nothing.... and should be gone with the next election!!
The property used to be part of the school back in the day,
So yes if My grandfather had bought a part of your land, it wouldn't be uncommon to say I practically live in your yard.
You are aware thst before it was made a clinic it was strictly snd solely an abortion clinic for years and years?
You are aware of course that there is a long list of businesses and services not allowed near schools in his province. Many of which are white tame in comparison.
You are also certainly aware having been a kid, the hijinx and bullying kids can do to others for next to know reason, simply needing a topic to use.
Right but is Ok for you to tell women what they should do???
I dunno... do you tell men they shouldn't kill?
Police officers, judges, government inspectors, parking enforcement officers, psychologists, guidance counsellors, teachers, priests, pastors, rabbis and imams do it all the time.
There is no principle in our society that says women get to do whatever they want whenever they want even if it is wrong and no-one has the right to tell them they are wrong.
That's just not a thing.
I am being sarcastic of course. I understand logistics and population factors in providing health services.
We have many people in this province that need to travel for an hour just to see a family doctor. So travelling for surgeries is not unrealistic
thats not very nice.......
And you represent who? Pregnant women?
Such a simple procedure should be offered at all hospitals.
Now they smear the Conservative.
Hypocrisy in action.
Defend your meaningless position.
while it serves about 3,000 patients as a Family practice
and every service it provides is covered by Medicare
other than abortions ????
My concern is with the mother and the baby. Who supports them, after the birth? Who pays the rent, interacts with the father for support, provides childcare so a mother can work to feed the baby and herself, and frankly, why is it anyone's business other than, as the Supreme Court of Canada once said, "that of a woman, her doctor and her God?" (1994 R vs Morgentaler)
the ones that are being aborted.........
the law...which law...the ones that protect black people...the one protecting the natives from fishing ...which was given by the supreme court......the one protecting people from angry cops.........the law is made by people.....
i am supporting them...imuch prefer my tax dollars going to a living being than killing one
As far as any other services this clinic provides, if they are covered by medicare, like other clinics, then there is no reason for this clinic to close.
Requiring 2 medical physicians to agree to the procedure was rescinded in 2015 by the Gallant government.
Nobody dares to deny the fact that Higgy et al have denied me the right to free health care for years and I have the emergency room bills and doctor fees to prove it.
New Brunswick is the only province in Canada that does not fund abortions outside of hospitals, while Clinic 554 is the only location that offers the medical procedure outside of a hospital in the province."
Why has Regulation 84-20 (from the early 1980s) not been repealed? It directly defies Health Care guidelines, by the way.
Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/7354039/waitlist-doctor-clinic-554/ « less
I told you this out of the gate Correct?
Theo Trapper
Allow voices you don't agree with to speak. It doesn't matter what side of any argument is presented, there is absolutely nothing that is so sacred of a topic to ban speech.
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Theo Trapper: I Wholeheartedly Agree Sir
"Reply to @David Amos: I think nobody dares because nobody cares about your personal failings, is that not so."
These urgent cries to have abortions in a private clinic are essentially a call to reduce the quality of healthcare for women seeking abortions.
Why should women settle for less than the best healthcare possible? Why should they not be served in fully-equipped hospitals rather than private clinics that will then have to rush them to the nearest hospital if there are emergencies due to complications?
The calls to fund Clinic 554 to perform abortions makes absolutely no sense whatsoever from a healthcare perspective.
If pro-choice advocates were really and truly concerned about the extra distance women have to travel to Moncton, it would make far more sense for them to ask that abortions be performed at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital rather than Clinic 554 and for one of the two Moncton hospitals to stop offering this service.
That would be consistent with trying to offer abortions under the best possible conditions for these women.
Instead of cherry picking sob stories. Can you provide accurate data and totals for the reasons for abortions in NB,
You are entitled to your issues, I to mine.
As I posted my current issue is wanting to see a breakdown of the reasons for the abortion.
I don't really care what is or isn't allowed. As I'm not addressing that issue,
Then maybe, we should be spending the money to address the causes of needing an abortion, instead of it getting to the stage of spending money on abortions,
If you want to change a system, fix the roots.
The data can be used to fix systematic issues thst lead to one needing abortions. Having an abortion is not an easy thing, so the best idea is to reduce the need for them. Not being in a position to need one, really is the best health for a woman.
Preventative measures for something that is a Personal Choice is more like Big Brother telling people what to do. The point is, it is a covered procedure in the Health Act. A woman's right to choose is not currently in debate by the Feds ( the only level that can change the Health act). At this point stats, rational is moot. In 2018 there were 507 procedures performed in the province. We are not talking about something that is costing millions of dollars a year. So this issue with Higgs is clearly not a monetary issue. But something else
"abstinence is not a viable solution"
In your opinion.
I'm not sure how I was disrespectful. I simply as,Ed for some actual data as to why,
There are of course a thousand and one reasons why. But there will also be some common threads that can be addressed.
, which can lead to a reduction in the need for abortions.
We are raising a disabled child. It was unknown at the time of a genetic issue. While the child is doing superb and lives as normal S life as they can - we decided to not burden any more future kids with a disability, there are ways to do so, including abstinence and it doesn't mean we love each other less.
Hardly, as there are certainly many people that do want children,
Hopefully not that many, and I sincerely hope it has not been part of your family's reality.
Given that Canada has opted to have this Wild West approach to abortion and allow any abortion for any reason or no reason at all at the mother's request, then seeking to know the reasons is immaterial.
Once Canada accepts abortion, then it has accepted the killing of innocent unborn babies and no reason is sufficient or necessary for that.
This, however, is not what this story is about. This story is not about extending or restricting abortion. it is about deciding where those abortions should be performed.
For reasons of the mother's health, the best place to perform an abortion is in a fully-equipped hospital with a full array of medical professionals to help the woman should an emergency arise from complications during the abortion. It is far better to have the woman already at the hospital so she can be helped immediately than to have her at a private clinic that will then have to call an ambulance and wait until she can be brought to a hospital for care during such an emergency.
Clinic 554 or any private clinic in New Brunswick should not be performing abortions as they cannot provide as great a standard of care for women in event of such emergencies.
Now, a more reasonable thing to discuss is whether a Fredericton hospital should also offer abortions, perhaps instead of two hospitals providing that service in Moncton.
That would be a legitimate discussion.
Not what this story is about,
Which was a response to you benging up no children ever again in the world.
At some point, there has to be a cut-off, a reasonable amount of population in the catchment area, to offer a service. So, for that reason, dental implants are not provided in, say, Dunlop, but they are provided in Moncton. Specializations in serious childhood illnesses might not be offered in Moncton, but they are at the IWK.
I imagine there is a number of some kind to determine how many abortions are demanded in an area before the service will be provided there.
It seems to me that either Saint John or Fredericton would be likely locations for abortion services in other hospitals, certainly before they would be expanded to smaller communities.
Mind you, politics also enters into the mix and sometimes funding for government projects is based more on voting patterns than common sense.
THATS DEFINITELY NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS
Earlier you said
"Lets go back to the rule of law"
What rules are you referring to? FYI Rule 55 was pulled on me in the Federal Court of Appeal in Fat Fred City. Trust that I am not done with this nonsense
Federal Courts Rules. SOR/2004-283, s. 2
1.1 (1) These Rules apply to all proceedings in the Federal Court of Appeal and the Federal Court unless otherwise provided by or under an Act of Parliament.
(2) In the event of any inconsistency between these Rules and an Act of Parliament or a regulation made under such an Act, that Act or regulation prevails to the extent of the inconsistency. SOR/2004-283, s. 2
55 In special circumstances, in a proceeding, the Court may vary a rule or dispense with compliance with a rule. SOR/2004-283, s. 11
Methinks I have the right to believe that there is no " no rule of law" in our purportedly profound "Just Democracy" N'esy Pas?
Every doctor in New Brunswick seems to be doing very well financially, thank you very much.
Perhaps the better question is: Why can't the Clinic 554 medical clinic attract enough patients to keep its doors open without taxpayer dollars?
I wonder how many of the senators are "non liberal" liberals that signed it.
All the so called non partisan senators Trudeau appointed.
The Problem is that the government is not allowing the clinic to bill for this specific procedure the amount of the prescribed NB fee, making the patient pay the entire fee. That is the issue
It is because the clinic wants to offer unfounded services, does provide them, usually at a loss as the patient can't pay.
If they clinic provided just the funded services they would be doing just fine. However they continue to insist on providing unfounded services and then demand money from the government,
Abortion is unapproved in NB outside a hospital. Clinic 554 knows this, yet still wants to collect.
Abortions outside a hospital for starters,
Tell thatqq to the Irving's
Abortion in a clinic is no different from one at a hospital. (An abortion at a clinic is more convenient and more discrete as all appointments are for one day at a clinic as opposed to many appointments on different days at a hospital). It's a procedure performed by someone who that's what they mostly do. Complications are rare with abortions, and if so a hospital is not far away.
There may be 3 hospitals that offer them in NB, but there's only 2 locations: Moncton and Bathurst. A woman has to go to multiple appointments for a hospital abortion, making it harder to be discrete and having high travel expenses (you can't drive yourself after the procedure, so you need to have someone drive you too).
It's the law that women have appropriate access to abortions. Either have the abortions in the 554 clinic covered as it should be, or provide it in Fredericton at the hospital. Women that live in Fredericton and West and beyond should not be expected to travel so far to access services they have a legal right to be able to access. By not funding abortions in the clinic, or in that region in hospital, needlessly makes women suffer. It puts women at risk otherwise.
And as a woman you speak from experience???
Mary Smith
For a hospital abortion it's not streamlined like it is in a clinic: there's many appointments on different days meaning there's many barriers with being discrete, travel expenses, and having someone drive you since you can't drive yourself after the procedure.
Complications after abortions are very, very rare. The hospital is not far from the clinic, if anything were to happen.
First I have posted several time if the issue is access, increase the hospitals.
Secondly as for your list of "hurdles" at a hospital, most of not all can be addressed by changing procedures and processes.
I see no reason why any abortions should be performed in clinics when a higher standard of care for women is available.
Why would you want women to go to a less well-equipped and less well-staffed facility for an abortion knowing that if complications arise the clinic may not be able to fully deal with that medical emergency?
That makes no sense. It makes no sense to provide women with anything less than the best possible medical care.
It wasn't that long ago that women had to get approval by two different doctors in order to allow them to have the procedure in NB, and only if it was "medically necessary". That's archaic and so behind the rest of the country.
Clinic or hospital, it doesn't really matter where as long as women have access without significant barriers. Hospitals need to streamline and improve to ensure women can get in before the cut off date, because it's time sensitive
As a pro-lifer, I of course think abortion should be illegal because it is the killing of an innocent human being.
But as long as abortion is not illegal and is being provided at taxpayers' expense in New Brunswick, then surely it should only be provided in the places that can provide the best medical care to women. And that's hospitals, not private clinics
And you know that clinics are less equipped or less well staffed than hospitals? It's the same nurses and doctors who perform the same procedures, the only difference is one is in a clinic and one is in a hospital.
You're pretending to care about women and speak for women, by denying women access. The clinic offers the very best medical care, just as the hospital does.
Times and views change, what was done years ago is different than today, years from now who knows what views we will have on the issue. It's fluid as we mature and grown ethically as a planet.
The number of staff involved In the actual surgery is lower at the clinic,
Hospitals pick up the pieces when things go wrong in private clinics.
And the reason for that is because the hospitals offer a wider range of medical services and have a greater amount of resources and a lot more medical professionals at their disposal to deal with emergencies.
It is completely absurd to pretend that a private clinic is equal to a fully-equipped hospital in terms of its ability to deal with emergencies.
Problem solved.
There is a difference between capacity and access. If say most getting an abortion are youth or working poor, or with kids to care for. Travelling hours may not be affordable or time doable,
While I don't think it should be on every corner, an hour travel should be a good determination of where to have it available.
You're telling me that a woman should not be excepted to travel as far for an abortion as I did for my morning commute?
That was your choice to travel that far. You could have either moved or changed jobs.
Plus if you drove 3 hours a day to go to work, you certainly weren't working minimum wage.
With regards to access, the bus fare for a trip from Edmundston to Moncton is $65.
Anyone can afford that.
And if, for some bizarre reason, a woman could not afford that, I am sure social service agencies would help her with the ride.
Abortion access in New Brunswick is not a real issue. It is an ideologically-driven agenda item.
Have you caught the bus from Edmund town to Moncton. For starters you gave one way,
Secondly, the bus does not arrive during the day in time for surgery that day,
Thirdly, this means at Kesey one night in a hotel. Most likely two. Plus meals.
And finally, like any surgery you need someone to sign you out of the hospital and watch you for a few hours. So thst Gus dare is one for two people.
Or are you proposing that abortions should be performed in clinics in every single community in New Brunswick?
You do realize, I hope, that the abortion pill Mifegymiso is available in virtually every pharmacy in Canada. So there are alternatives to surgical abortions.
Mind you, there is always the alternative of, oh, I don't know, actually letting the child live and love him or her and be a good mother.
Hey I haven't argued to keep clinic 554 open, it doesn't really solve the issue and only helps those in Fredericton,
Like what Dan said, your math is wrong. It isn't just one way, it'd be multiple ways for multiple days. Add in motel or hotel. Add in food. Add in time taken off work because you have to spend days traveling. Add in trying to travel many hours over many days discretely. It's a lot more than just $65.
And now your pro-life is showing. It's not about the legal right for women to access abortions they need without significant barriers, you want to add barriers to prevent women from accessing the procedure.
I don't like having to point to gender, but this is a gendered issue that you as a man will never have to deal with. It's the law. Either have it performed in the hospital in that region, or at the clinic and be covered as it's covered when performed in hospitals. If women can't access abortions, they'll either find a way or we'll see a rise in suicides. It's the same procedure, performed by the same people, in the same setting with the same exact tools and experts. The only difference is it's performed in a clinic (and they offer same day for everything) and one is in a hospital, and one is covered and the other one should be too.
Also, Clinic 554 isn't just for those in Fredericton, it helps all those not close to Moncton or Bathurst.
Ah, so you want women to basically deal with it all at home and have miscarriage at home, where so much can go wrong. So much for wanting women in a medical environment, so they're the most safe they can be?
Yes, I am pro-life. I don't hide that. I certainly don't apologize for it.
Unless you want to get in to a debate about the morality and science and law surrounding abortion - and I suggest you might want to have that debate with someone less prepared than me and under different circumstances - then I think it would be most productive for us to simply discuss the actual substance of the issue being reported.
We have a lot of common ground. I want women to be safe and have access to the best possible medical care. So do you. I want women to have their medical care covered by taxpayers. So do you.
Can we agree that under the current legal system, the real issue here is not whether to fund Clinic 554 or not but whether or not a private clinic like Clinic 554 is as good or better a choice for this service compared to a hospital, such as the Chalmers in Fredericton?
I will almost certainly never get pregnant. That much, I hope is true - although one can never tell with advances in modern medicine and changing social mores. Still, I have received treatment in private clinics and hospitals as well. As a reasonably intelligent adult, I think I can evaluate the extent of medical services in one type of medical establishment relative to another.
And so, like the woman who reports on men's sports even though she is not a man and will never suffer all the same kinds of sports injuries as men, I too feel capable of being able to comment in a reasonable and rational way on abortion even though I will never have one.
I hope we can put sexism aside and have a reasonable conversation.
I am merely pointing out that there are other alternatives to surgical abortions.
I agree that Mifegymiso is a horrible thing and that it can create a great deal of problems. It is, however, the ultimate in convenience when it comes to abortion.
When pro-choice advocates demand that abortion be available everywhere with no obstacles, they are by necessity compromising the safety of the woman in exchange for that convenience. The logical extension of that is Mifegymiso.
My preference and I think the only reasonable public policy position if abortion is to be legal in Canada, is to have abortions done in fully-equipped hospitals and to hold the makers of Mifegymiso financially liable for every single complication that arises from their product.
As has been made abundantly apparent, however, I do not get to make that decision. At least, not yet. «
They don't want it available everywhere, just appropriate and reasonable access. Having it covered in just two locations - Moncton and Bathurst - isn't enough and that is a significant barrier to many.
A surgical abortion is easier on the body, with shorter recovery time, and the clinics provide all the appointments streamlined for one day. Meanwhile the hospital uses a chemical abortion where you start at home (I'm not sure if it's Mifegymiso or not, but it's similar) and you try traveling 3-4 hours while having essentially a miscarriage. It's needlessly making women suffer.
The clinic fills the gap in services currently in NB. It should either be covered, or replaced by being offered in that region (and the hospitals should aim to improve to the level of care that the clinics provide and streamline appointments as they do).
But really, women are not having their safety at risk. The clinic provides the service and are experts. If problems arise - which they rarely do - they are not far from a hospital. Women are consenting adults and are capable of making informed decisions about their health and their bodies. Hiding behind safety of women as a reason to put up barriers is dishonest -- you don't really want the procedure offered in hospitals, you want it not offered in clinics.
If that is the case - and I don't agree that it is - then the appropriate solution would be to get the hospitals to adopt the procedures used by the clinics when the woman wants that procedure.
With regards to accessibility, it may be that two locations is inadequate for the demand. If that is the case - and I don't agree that it is because the arguments against the current locations are weak at best - then the solution would be to have more hospitals in more locations perform the procedure. This would allow women to have easier access while being in hospitals which are the best-equipped and staffed medical facilities to handle emergencies in the eventuality of complications during abortions.
The solution is clearly not to fund a privately-operated, for-profit clinic that is less equipped and less able to handle emergencies than a hospital.
Women in New Brunswick deserve the highest standard of medical care, not second-best.
The fact that hospitals are better equipped to help women should there be an emergency due to complications during an abortion is indisputable. The hospitals are where the abortion clinics send women when there is an emergency.
It only stands to reason that if the woman may need the hospital's services, it only makes sense for her to have the procedure done in a hospital if it is going to be performed at all.
Please stick with the issue and discuss this in a fair and rationale manner without resorting to name-calling and insults.
If a woman is trying to access an abortion in say Fredericton and if the clinic wasn't there that means she would have to go to Moncton or Bathurst 3 to 4 different times - all potentially discretely and with great travel expense - and that is a lot of barriers for women to access the abortion they need.
For hospitals too they try to push you to have an abortion later, closer to the cut off point, where as a clinic would get you in when you want it done as soon as it's possible.
With abortions you need to have it performed before the x time or else it's too far along, and if you aren't able to get all those appointments done in time you would have to travel a far distance to find someone to perform the procedure, even if it's only a day or so over the cut off time for an early term abortion.
There are 3 hospitals in NB but only in two locations: Moncton and Bathurst. Travel time potentially being very significant and the inconvenience of having to travel for multiple appointments as opposed to just having everything done on one day, are barriers.
So if a woman cannot access abortions timely and discretely. Say if a woman is in an abusive relationship, trying to get in to have the procedure done discretely, it's difficult to do so when they have to travel many hours away for 3-4 different appointments and where they cannot drive themselves to or from the procedure appointment afterwards. All of this and more are all very significant barriers for women.
"Every mother a willing mother. Every child a wanted child."
Yet that's no different than anyone needing any other type of surgery, it requires multiple visits.
If the issue were the travel time and distance, then abortion advocates would be asking for a Fredericton hospital to perform abortions. That would provide women with the greatest access to high-quality medical care in the event of emergencies arising from complications during abortions.
That's not what they are asking for. They are asking government to give taxpayer dollars to a private clinic.
This is an ideological thing. The clinic has become a symbol for abortion rights and the owner or owners are using that to try to milk the government for taxpayer dollars.
But the symbol of the private abortion clinic fighting for abortion rights in New Brunswick is an anachronism, a throwback to a different time.
Abortion is now readily available and fully funded by the taxpayer in hospitals offering the highest possible standard of medical care for women in New Brunswick.
There is no longer any need for women to go to a private clinic with less medical staff and less medical equipment and take the chance of suffering a complication that the clinic will be unable to address.
Women in New Brunswick know this. They're not stupid. They're not going to go get abortions in a less well-equipped clinic and pay for it when they can get their abortions for free in hospitals.
Clinic 554 simply has to keep up with the times and offer other services. They're a medical clinic. Maybe they should just concentrate on offering good medical care to patients. It seems to work as a business model for just about every other medical clinic in the province.
(I just looked through the comments and I counted just four women comment, and the rest are from men. It's easy to have an opinion on something that you'll never, ever have to deal with.)
Access to abortions, without significant barriers, is a woman's legal right. That's it. Improve access or pay for the service provided in the clinic that fills the need that is clearly there.
This isn't true.
It's about access. It wasn't long ago that women had to get the approval of two doctors to allow them to have the procedure in NB, and that was only if it was deemed "medically necessary" (and suicide from being forced to have a child they did not want counts).
We're behind the times in NB. Clinic or hospital, it doesn't matter. The doctors and facility at the clinic is absolutely safe. They know what they're doing as that's what they do. They're experts.
It's about paying for a service that the province already covers in three hospitals in two locations in NB.
Rishon is party correct. It's not really just about abortions at clinic 554. It's about a far left segment of society wanting their own private clinic to address their personal health needs.
Rather than deal with the public health system.
It used to be solely about abortions when it was just an abortion clinic. Now it's about fighting for a private clinic to deal with not just abortion but gender and other left issues.
There is no doubt whatsoever that a fully-equipped hospital is a safer place for a woman suffering from a medical emergency. That is where she should be.
If Canada is going to offer abortion services, it must offer them in the best way possible. And that's in hospitals.
That specialization, added to the regular medical care clinics provide to everyone, should be more than enough to keep Clinic 554 afloat financially.
Yes it would be a good thing for clinic 554. Unfortunately it doesn't make enough money for them. Mostly because again they refuse to charge many patients they feel can't pay.
Instead of all this effort spent to try and keep it open, they all should have spent the time establishing and fundraising for a grant system to help those who can't afford the services.
Thst would be a much better time spent and actually help people.
All of which I have told them many times. But they aren't interested, they want to bang their drums of rebellion instead.
There are funds there, but they perform the procedure at a loss to help women who come up short. They shouldn't have to do fundraising when women have the legal right to obtain an abortion without significant barriers. It's the law.
No comments:
Post a Comment