Manitoba appeals ruling on reimbursement for abortion

Community Action, Feb 21, 2005

WINNIPEG -- The Manitoba government is appealing a court, ruling which said the Charter rights of two Manitoba women were violated because they paid for their own abortions at a private clinic without any reimbursement from the province.

Tim Sales, Manitoba's Health Minister said the judgement made by Associate Chief Justice Jeffrey Oliphant of the Manitoba Court of Appeal jeopardizes the province's responsibility to determine the most effective and efficient way to deliver health care.

"Our decision to appeal is based on the need for all provincial governments to retain full control over their health budgets, particularly, for a publicly-funded health care system," he said, adding that "opening the door to for-profit care leads to increased expenditures with no measurable effect on wait lists."

* In his decision Justice Oliphant ruled that provincial health care regulations, excluding abortions performed in a private clinic from provincial funding, not only violate certain Charter Rights and Freedoms of women wishing to have an abortion but" are also contradictory, since the province willingly paid for part of the procedure's cost for one woman because she was a social assistant recipient at the time.

The two women each paid for an abortion in 1994 and 1999 at the privately-operated Morgentaler clinic after discovering that there would be a long delay for the procedure if they had it performed in a publicly funded facility such as a provincial hospital. In their appeal, they argued that they should not have to pay for a medically necessary procedure, and that the province's refusal to pay for abortion procedures at privately-run clinics violated their Charter rights.

In his statement, Sales noted that the government's decision to appeal will have no bearing on the availability of abortion services, including services provided by the Morgentaler clinic, which, due to changes at the clinic, are now funded by the province.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has been funding abortions at Jane's Clinic since the summer and this will continue as it works towards implementing a broader women's reproductive health strategy, added the minister.

Canadian women obtained 105,154: abortions in 2002, down 1% from 106,270 in 2001. The rate of abortion has also marginally fallen from 15.6 abortions per 1,000 women in 2001 to 15.4 abortions per 1,000 women in 2002. (Numbers exclude data related to residents of Nunavut.)

Canadian Institute for Health Information

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