VICTORIA, British Columbia, March 17, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – British Columbia pro-abortion activists and politicians are in an uproar over a slated 400 percent increase to regulatory fees about to be charged to abortion facilities by the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons.
According to Jill Doctoroff, executive director of the Elizabeth Bagshaw Women’s Clinic abortion facility in Vancouver, the rise in fees will amount to an extra $9,000 in operating costs next year, bringing the fees charged to “non-profit” abortion facilities in line with those charged to “for-profit” clinics.
“It’s huge,” Doctoroff told the Vancouver Sun. “Already we are bare bones. … I’m looking for $9,000 next year and there’s not a lot of areas to cut. Now we’re looking at what we could cut, and it could be service hours.”
The BC College of Physicians and Surgeons said in a statement quoted by the Sun that it had given “therapeutic abortion clinics” partial exemptions from the accreditation fee increases it had mandated in 2008 for private surgical and medical facilities. Those exemptions are slated to expire April 1.
“The new fee reflects the true cost of the service,” the college stated. “According to a college board policy in place for several years, the subsidy cannot continue.”
“While the appropriate level of accreditation for TA (therapeutic abortion) clinics and how to pay for it are worked out, this issue is not one that should pose any barriers to access to abortion services for the women of the province.”
However, provincial NDP Health critic Maurine Karagianis blasted the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons for wanting to charge abortion clinics “the true cost of the service,” saying it's “not fair” that BC's doctor and medical facility regulatory organization should treat non-profit “women’s health clinics” the same way it treats for-profit surgical centres.
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“I suspect it’s the for-profit guys like the Cambie clinic that have somehow complained and the college has taken a bit of a philosophical shift,” Karagianis said.
British Columbia Liberal Health Minister Dr. Terry Lake, a veterinarian by profession, said in a statement quoted by the Sun that he is “concerned” about the short notice of the college's fee increase decision, despite the college's statement that the April 1 expiration of the partial fee increase exemptions for abortion clinics has been a “board policy in place for several years.”
“I’ve asked my deputy minister to call the college to try to understand the reason for the increase, and why it is happening over such a short period of time,” Minister Lake said. “I will have a report back from him once this conversation has happened.”
Contact:
Hon. Dr. Terry Lake, BC Minister of Health
Room 337, Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
Phone: 250 953-3547
Fax: 250 356-9587
[email protected]