The heart-wrenching story of a 14-year-old Prince Edward Island girl who turned to desperate measures to induce an abortion highlights the need for changes in the way abortion services are delivered in the province.
For two weeks, the teen ingested chemicals, repeatedly rammed her stomach into a table, and even tried throwing herself down the stairs.
Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie, a UPEI researcher, revealed in a recent interview with this newspaper that she's shocked at the similarities in stories from women who have had, or tried to have, abortions. Many turn to self-harm, she said. "If you limit options then you create desperation, and then desperate people do things they wouldn't normally do. It's deeply disturbing."
We agree.
Prince Edward Island remains the only province that does not provide abortion services, a procedure deemed medically necessary and legal in this country since Jan. 28, 1988.
That's when the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the Criminal Code section that made it a criminal activity to perform an abortion.
Three years later, a bill passed in the House of Commons to recriminalize abortion but was defeated in the Senate.
The issue is front and centre again after a new group, the P.E.I. Reproductive Rights Organization, formed to push for changes.
The province does cover the costs of the procedure off-Island, but only when done in a hospital and only if a woman has been referred by not one but two doctors.
Women seeking an abortion must then travel to either a hospital in Halifax, or a private clinic in Fredericton, where fees can be as high as $900.
P.E.I. Health Minister Doug Currie apparently has no plans to change current abortion policies. In an interview with this newspaper, he said his stand had nothing to do with the controversial nature of the issue, but more to do with costs. Right now, he says, there's no reason to "veer off the current status."
Mr. Currie, we do see a reason to change course. It's an issue of equality.
The debate about whether abortion is right or even legal is a divisive one, but it's a debate that has already taken place. The Supreme Court has ruled. The province cannot sit back and ignore the court's ruling, or the pain and anguish that Prince Edward Island's current policies on abortion are causing.
Political pressure is now mounting on the Liberal government. Green Party Leader Sharon Labchuk calls P.E.I.'s current abortion policy a "blatant discrimination against women, especially low-income women." NDP Leader James Rodd says "over the past 30 years, both Liberal and Conservative governments have refused to support women's access to abortion."
Surprisingly, Conservative Party Leader Olive Crane, the leader of the official Opposition, has remained silent on the issue. Island voters deserve to hear from her on this important policy issue.
Other groups keeping silent at the moment are the ones representing Prince Edward Island physicians, key players in the province's health-care system.
Dr. MacQuarrie's research shows that Island women who do reach out to their family doctors in time of need don't always get it.
There are doctors who just don't give referrals. There are doctors who have refused to see patients wanting an abortion.
Kandace Hagen, an Island woman who wanted to terminate a pregnancy, discovered that first-hand: "(The doctor) told me that my only option was to go to the Morgentaler clinic in Fredericton and gave me the number and that was it. He left the room."
Incidents like that highlight the need for Prince Edward Island to modernize its abortion policies and bring them in line with the rest of the country.
Just to make a point while not giving an opinion. If you call pro abortion Pro Choice, than please do not call Pro Life anti Abortion. Just don't change terms because it fits your lovely boxed world of political correctness.