{"id":217911,"date":"2019-06-08T02:18:45","date_gmt":"2019-06-08T06:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=217911"},"modified":"2019-06-08T02:18:45","modified_gmt":"2019-06-08T06:18:45","slug":"equity-issue-saskatchewan-to-fully-cover-cost-of-abortion-drug-mifegymiso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/06\/08\/equity-issue-saskatchewan-to-fully-cover-cost-of-abortion-drug-mifegymiso\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Equity issue:’ Saskatchewan to fully cover cost of abortion drug Mifegymiso"},"content":{"rendered":"
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But the issue of abortion access didn’t factor into the ministry’s recommendation on Mifegymiso, which was the basis for his decision, he said. (Shutterstock Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

REGINA \u2014 Advocates are celebrating the Saskatchewan government’s decision to fully fund the cost of the abortion drug Mifegymiso which means the treatment is now covered across Canada.<\/p>\n

Frederique Chabot, a director with Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, said Saskatchewan is the last province to introduce universal coverage of the two-pill drug combination, which was first approved by Health Canada in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not just about a medication getting covered,\u201d she said Friday. \u201cIt was about addressing an equity issue across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manitoba announced last week that it would be covering the drug.<\/p>\n

Mifegymiso induces the termination of a pregnancy in the early stages. It can cost as much as $350 if a patient doesn’t qualify for provincial drug coverage or have private insurance.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan Health Minister Jim Reiter said the decision to pay for the drug followed a recommendation he received from officials he had tasked with reviewing its coverage. That was done in response to requests from medical students at the University of Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n

Chabot and other advocates see the drug as an opportunity to improve access to abortion services in rural areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cCost has been one of the biggest prohibiting factors … because they have (had) to travel into one of their urban centres, take time off work,\u201d said Samuel Simonson, a medical student at the University of Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that we have that coverage in their own community, we’ll be able to provide abortion for them without barriers \u2014 the way it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reiter said Mifegymiso provides a \u201cless invasive\u201d way of terminating a pregnancy than a surgical procedure.<\/p>\n

But the issue of abortion access didn’t factor into the ministry’s recommendation on Mifegymiso, which was the basis for his decision, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, it was accessible. It was accessible all along as far as availability, as far as getting a prescription. The issue simply was who’s going to pay for it?\u201d said Reiter.<\/p>\n

The NDP Opposition said the government faced pressure to fund the drug because it was one of the last in Canada to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis head is in the sand if he thinks access isn’t an issue,\u201d NDP member Vicki Mowat said.<\/p>\n

The NDP also raised concerns that while Mifegymiso coverage was under review, Rural Health Minister Greg Ottenbreit told an anti-abortion group in his Yorkton-area constituency that he would \u201ccontinue the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reiter acknowledged abortion is a divisive issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cFederal law has made it very clear that abortion needs to be provided. This is simply, I’d say, a less invasive way of doing that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope folks understand these are the kind of issues that not everybody’s going to agree on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chabot hopes full-cost coverage means more pharmacies in Saskatchewan will start stocking Mifegymiso on their shelves.<\/p>\n

In April, The Canadian Press contacted more than 80 community pharmacies across the province and the majority reported the drug was not in stock.<\/p>\n

Some pharmacies said Mifegymiso is usually ordered as needed and could be brought in within a day. Others reported there was no inventory available to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve seen in many places that when (drug-induced) abortion is more accessible, it does change the makeup of what kind of services people access,\u201d said Chabot. \u201cThere might be a surge in demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

In British Columbia, which fully covers Mifegymiso, women are terminating pregnancies with the drug at much higher rates than before, she said.<\/p>\n

Chabot said Health Canada’s approval of Mifegymiso several years ago sparked a national discussion about abortion and showed how access can be uneven.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not as easy to access as people think it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REGINA \u2014 Advocates are celebrating the Saskatchewan government’s decision to fully fund the cost of the abortion drug Mifegymiso which …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":172049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-stephanie-taylor","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217912,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217911\/revisions\/217912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}