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OTTAWA, June 1 (LifeSiteNews.com)  Leading Canadian abortionist, Dr. Henry Morgentaler, is trying to piggyback on the current health care controversy raging throughout the country by calling on the federal Liberals to address the problem of “two-tiered” abortion access in the country. Objecting to the different levels of access to abortion in each province, he said that “this is a situation which should not exist.” Stretching the rhetoric surrounding health care, he claimed that “women in this country look to [Health Minister] Rock as the defender of medicare” to provide equal access to abortion across Canada.

The Montreal Gazette, reporting on the controversy, notes that Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Newfoundland pay the full amount for abortions performed in hospitals and abortuaries. On the other hand, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Manitoba do not use taxpayer dollars to fund the killing of unborn babies in private abortuaries (and in P.E.I. no hospitals perform abortions).

The Gazette also noted that in 1995, the feds said they would “cut transfer payments to provinces that allowed private clinics to charge patients fees to perform medically necessary services,”  adding that Ottawa treats abortion as medically necessary. This is, however, simply a matter of policy, not law. Alberta and Newfoundland, however, began to pay for “clinic-performed abortions”  after being penalized by $200,000 in transfer payments, reports the Montreal paper. Nova Scotia still apparently faces penalties for not using taxpayer dollars to kill unborn children.