Abortion pill out of reach for Nova Scotian women

The abortion pill remains out of reach of most Nova Scotia women, because doctors still cannot bill the province for providing it.

Last fall, the province announced funding of Mifegymiso, a two-drug combination using mifepristone and misoprostol to terminate an early pregnancy up to 63 days gestation.

But despite public coverage of the abortion pill, most women are unable to obtain a prescrip- tion for the drug because the majority of family doctors - and the province’s only abortion clinic - don’t yet offer the alternative to surgical abortion.

At issue is the lack of a provincial billing code that pays doctors for overseeing pregnancy termination using the abortion pill. Dr. Lianne Yoshida, medical co-director of the Termination of Pregnancy Unit at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, said prescribing physicians in Nova Scotia can only bill for a regular visit, which doesn’t reflect the time involved.

“They are being paid a little bit, but not even close to their colleagues in other provinces,” Yoshida said

“It involves more than just writing a prescription. It requires counselling, education about options, sending them for blood tests and an ultrasound, information about how to take the medication safely and what to expect, and follow-up appointments.” She added that she began the process of applying for a billing code for providing Mifegymiso in Nova Scotia shortly after Health Canada approved it in 2015.