Abortion drug not accessible: advocate

The abortion drug Mifegymiso is not available to the extent it should be, says Jillian Schwandt, executive director of Sexual Health Centre Saskatoon.

“We have an opioid crisis in this country, and we don’t see these kinds of restrictions being placed on those kinds of medications.”

Health Canada requires physicians to dispense Mifegymiso rather than pharmacists. However, British Columbia is allowing its pharmacists to do so, fearing a barrier to access since most B.C. physicians are not legally authorized to sell and dispense medication.

Saskatchewan doctors face no such legal restriction. The provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons is sticking to Health Canada’s rules. However Schwandt said in practical terms many clinics are not set up for physicians to sell medications.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada says 33 Saskatchewan health-care providers have signed up for the course required to prescribe the drug. Manitoba has 27 and Alberta has 40. The national total is 902.

Schwandt said there was hope this medication would increase access to abortion services for Saskatchewan women in rural areas. However, the $300 drug, which must be paid for out of pocket, has only been shipped to Saskatoon, according to the manufacturer, Celopharma.

Schwandt said she wants the province to cover the drug and increase access — including to women who are only here temporarily — and the federal government to remove the restrictions, which do not exist in the United States.

“We have a prime minister who continues to tell us he’s a feminist. Yet when we look at the restrictions around this particular medication, they really do create a lot of barriers for women and those barriers are felt exponentially for women who are living in rural and remote northern areas,” she said.

“It’s really important that our governments are accountable to the words they’re using when they describe the policies governments are putting into place.”