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MANITOBA GOVERNMENT LOOKING TO PROVIDE MORE PUBLIC ABORTIONS

WINNIPEG, September 25, 2001 (LSN.ca) - The Manitoba government is looking to expand abortion services in the province according to a document obtained by the Winnipeg Sun. A June 21, 2001 memo of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) reveals that the Gary Doer government is looking to expand abortion services in the province. The move came several months after federal Health Minister Alan Rock threatened to penalize various provinces, including Manitoba, for failing to publicly fund abortions performed at private abortion mills.

The Sun reports that the WRHA has laid out three options to increase abortion services in Winnipeg. - fund a new clinic through the Women's Health Clinic -- a non-profit Winnipeg facility that provides health services to women. - expand abortion services at Health Sciences Centre where the majority of publicly funded abortions are performed in Manitoba - buy the Morgentaler clinic (which is unlikely due to the breakdown of talks between the gov't and Morgentaler)

"The government has stated that as a policy objective, they do not want to fund private clinics," Terry Goertzen, the WRHA's director of public affairs, wrote in the June 21, 2001 memo to health officials. "With respect to abortion procedures, they would like to see a proposal to develop this service in a non-profit, community-based setting."

In the battle for public funds for his clinics, notorious abortionist Henry Morgentaler has been lobbying Ottawa furiously. In July, in the midst of Morgentaler's funding campaign, two women who opted to pay for abortions at a private clinic rather than have their children aborted for free at a hospital, launched a suit against Manitoba for refusing to pay for their abortions. Maria Slykerman, President of Campaign Life Coalition Manitoba, told LifeSite that the timing of the lawsuit was suspicious. "It seems Morgentaler is behind the whole thing," said Slykerman. She noted that one of the women in the case had her abortion in 1994 and only chose to come forward during the present conflict.

See the coverage from the Winnipeg Sun:
http://www.canoe.ca/WinnipegNews/ws.ws-09-25-0011.html

See LifeSite coverage of Rock's pressure on the provinces to fund private abortuaries:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/jan/01010801.html
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/jan/01010901.html
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/jan/0101111 .html

(with files from Pro-Life E-News)

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