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Canada's Supreme Court Declines Manitoba Private Abortion Funding Case

by Hilary White

WINNIPEG, February 24, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that it will not hear a case brought by two women trying to force the Manitoba government to pay for abortion in private facilities.

In December 2004, a Queen’s Bench judge ruled without trial that the province must pay for abortions in privately owned abortion mills.

The Province appealed the decision, arguing that it violates the agreement that provinces may decide which procedures are medically necessary and must be covered by taxpayers. The appeals court overturned the Queen’s Bench decision saying that the case was important enough to be heard in trial. The women have vowed to continue the fight.

“We are back where we started. My anticipation is that we will move along and get a trial date,” their lawyer, Robert Tapper said yesterday, noting the case will likely be heard in Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench.

The province will continue the fight, however, according to a spokesman for the Manitoba Department of Health who said, “Manitoba, and all the provinces, need to be able to protect the right to determine health care priorities and deliver services as efficiently as possible.”

“The province is concerned that this might create a precedent for other medical services where anyone can get any procedure where and when they want and the province would be forced to pay the bill,” he said.

Mary Ellen Douglas, spokesman for Campaign Life Coalition, applauded the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case. “I just hope the other courts are as wise as the Supreme Court,” Douglas said.

The argument for the medical necessity of abortion has been revealed as a red herring and there is a strong argument that provinces should not be paying for any abortions under the Canada Health Act. In 2001, Health Canada was forced to admit that there is no evidence that abortion is ever a medical necessity.

A U.S. survey of women by the Guttmacher Institute, the research organ of the US abortion lobby, showed that only 3% cited health risks as the reason for abortion. In 2001, the former head of the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League told a House of Commons committee that women seek abortions “for socio-economic reasons.” In Canada, moreover, there is no legal requirement for a woman to give any reason to abort a child.

The abortion industry has long been pressuring Manitoba to fund abortions in private facilities. In 2003, abortionist Henry Morgentaler announced that he would be discounting his abortion fees in order to put more political pressure on the province. Health Minister Dave Chomiak said then that it was the “sixth, or seventh or eighth time Dr. Morgentaler has called on us to take over his clinic.”

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Abortion at Private Clinics Must be Publicly Funded Manitoba Judge Declares
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/05010307.html

Read report on Morgentaler and medical necessity from the Interim:
Morgentaler's Lunge for More Money Attacked
http://www.theinterim.com/2002/nov/01morgentalers.html

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