The Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton, the only free-standing clinic in the Maritimes, has operated for 20 years and performs more than half the approximately 1,000 abortions done in New Brunswick annually; it is scheduled to close at the end of July—not for lack of demand, but because of a provincial regulation, NB 84-20, Schedule 2 (a.1), in the Medical Services Payment Act. Under this regulation, an abortion will be covered by Medicare in New Brunswick only if (1) it is done in a hospital, (2) by a specialist in the field of obstetrics or gynaecology, and (3) two doctors have certified in writing that the procedure is “medically required.”
Simone Leibovitch, Manager of the Morgentaler Clinic, and Kathleen Pye, Chair of Reproductive Justice NB, explain the situation in this video by Emily St. Pierre.
