Canada Could Become an Abortion Destination

The US Supreme Court’s decision Friday overturning Roe v Wade means women living in states with new restrictions on abortion could be forced to travel to obtain the procedure. Canada, which has no legal restrictions on abortion, could offer a safe haven for those looking for abortion care, with about half of US states considered “certain or likely” to ban or severely restrict services following the high court’s decision. “The women who are most vulnerable are not women, most likely, who are going to have passports and the money to do this,”, said Sheri Krieger, a counselor at Bloor West. “Certainly we’re open and here to help in any way we can, 100%, that’s for sure, but at this moment we have no sense of what’s going to happen”.

Abortions are less expensive in Canada than the US. Carolyn Egan, a spokesperson for the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics, said the cost of the procedure at a Canadian clinic is about C$500 ($388), but that doesn’t include any travel costs a woman from the US might incur. In Michigan, an abortion costs $600 to $900, according to the Women’s Center of Michigan. On average, women wait one to two weeks for an abortion in Canada and as long as five weeks for later-term abortion care, according to Action Canada.Notwithstanding that women in Canada have the fully enshrined right to this service, that doesn’t mean that it’s widely available. There still continues to be a huge amount of stigma around that access, and so we know that cross-border movement happens in order to access abortion services and we’ve actually seen it from Canada to the U.S.

(Available at: https://time.com. Adapted.)

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