News & Analysis

Abortion pill: free for the asking in Ontario

TORONTO, August 3, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — The Ontario Liberals announced today that the province will provide the abortion pill for free as of August 10.

The Liberals promised in their May budget they would pay for Mifegymiso, or RU-486.

Status of Women Minister Indira Naidoo-Harris announced Thursday that “women with a valid health card and prescription from their doctor or nurse practitioner” can get the abortion pill for free “at participating pharmacies across the province” in a week’s time.

The health ministry says the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada has trained some 150 provincial healthcare providers who can prescribe medication to prescribe the abortion pill, the CBC reported.

The ministry will be billed $337.25 for the drug, it reported.

Read real-life testimonies of how chemical abortion pill funding is already adversely impacting Ontarians, here.

Mifegymiso, or RU-486, is a two-drug combination of Mifepristone, which blocks progesterone, essentially starving the baby to death in utero, and Misoprostol, taken 24 to 48 hours later to induce labour to expel the dead baby.

Pro-abortion groups lauded the news.

Sarah Hobbs-Blyth, Planned Parenthood Toronto’s executive director, was quoted in the ministry’s press release: “Provincial funding for reliable medical abortion is the right decision.”

Homosexual rights group Egale tweeted shortly after the announcement:

But Campaign Life Coalition decried the decision.

“This decision betrays women,” says Johanne Brownrigg, Campaign Life Coalition’s Ottawa lobbyist.

“It’s disingenuous to pretend that this is an answer to a difficult pregnancy,” added Brownrigg. “This drug kills the child and can seriously harm the mother.”

Moreover, “there is a finite amount of money that can be spent on healthcare, and this is not healthcare,” she told LifeSiteNews.

Pro-life groups have long warned that not only is the abortion pill fatal for the child in the womb but it’s dangerous for the mother.

Indeed, as Brownrigg pointed out, “Campaign life Coalition has been relentless in fighting the availability of this drug” and has launched an education campaign education campaign #RU486RUCrazy

The campaign features short videos by Marie-Claire Bissonnette, youth coordinator with Campaign Life Coalition documenting the dangers of RU-486.

The abortion drug has been directly linked to the deaths of more than a dozen U.S. women and a number of women internationally.

“Unfortunately, ‘greater choice in reproductive health’ has taken precedence over the health of the health of the mother, the life of the child, provincial debt, and conscientious objecting taxpayers,” Bissonnette told LifeSiteNews in an earlier interview.

Health Canada approved the abortion pill in July 2015, and it has been available since January, at an estimated cost of $300 to $400.

Four provinces so far have have announced they will pay for the abortion pill under publicly funded healthcare insurance plans.

New Brunswick’s Liberal government under Brian Gallant was the first to announce it would do so.

Rachel Notley’s Alberta NDP, Kathleen Wynne’s Ontario Liberals, and Philippe Couillard’s Quebec Liberals have since followed suit.

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This article is republished with the permission of LifeSiteNews.com