This Canadian Province Will Give Out $300 Abortion Drug for Free

Steve Weatherbe : Apr 12, 2017
LifeSiteNews

"This is very sad news that the region of Canada that has shown the greatest respect for life is now showing the greatest hostility to it." – Jack Fonseca, Campaign Life Coalition.

(Canada) — [LifeSiteNews] The New Brunswick government has announced it will provide the controversial abortion pill combination Mifegymiso free of charge. (Photo Credit: LifeSite News)

"By making Mifegymiso available free of charge for all New Brunswick women, our government is ensuring that financial barriers do not stand in the way of a woman's right to choose," said Health Minister Victor Boudreau.

Surgical abortions are covered by the provincial health plan, but usually drugs are not. Mifegymiso is two drugs. Mifepristone is given first and halts the body's production of progesterone, effectively starving the unborn child to death. Within 48 hours, the woman takes the Misoprostol, which causes the uterus to contract and expel the dead baby. The market price for the combo is $300.

"This is very sad news that the region of Canada that has shown the greatest respect for life is now showing the greatest hostility to it," said Jack Fonseca of the Campaign Life Coalition.

Until the election of the Liberal government of Brian Gallant in 2015, New Brunswick only funded an abortion after two doctors declared it medically necessary. As a result, only about 600 taxpayer-funded abortions were done there annually. Another 400 were paid for privately. (Photo Credit: Flickr)

However, Gallant made expanding access to abortion an election plank. Since then, he has removed the requirement for doctors' approval and added a third facility to the two hospitals where abortions could be done previously.

However, also since 2015, the abortion pill RU-486, or Mifegymiso, won the approval of Health Canada. It has been sold in Canada since January. The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health is now reviewing it to determine whether to recommend it for funding by provincial health plans, as only a few essential drugs are.

New Brunswick has pre-empted that process. "We have been at the bottom of the list in regards to this issue for decades," Canadian Press reported  Boudreau as saying. But now, "It's our government that is … breaking down barriers."

Pro-abortion groups lobbied across Canada for Mifegymiso's approval, arguing that it will reduce the hardship faced by rural women who have to drive for hours to abort their babies surgically in hospitals.

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