By John-Henry Westen
MONTREAL, August 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On August 17th 2006, Madam Justice Nicole Bénard of the Quebec Superior Court ordered the Government of Quebec to pay over $13,000,000 to Quebec women who had to pay extra fees for abortions at private centres since May 2, 1999. The Court granted a class action lawsuit by the pro-abortion activist association known as the Association for Access to Abortion.
The province already paid for all abortion procedures in hospitals and even for the abortion procedure offered by abortionists in private practice, however it did not pay the extra fee charged by private abortion mills which usually amounted to $300. Private abortion businesses such as the Morgentaler clinic claimed the fee was due to their superior services.
Justice Bénard concluded that abortion on demand at taxpayer expense was not good enough, and that the government must also spend taxpayer dollars on covering the extra fees demanded for abortions at private centres. Bénard found that the Quebec Government violated its own legislation ensuring abortion access since the procedure is covered under the province’s Health Insurance Act.
Luc Gagnon, the President of the Quebec division of Campaign Life Coalition (Campagne Quebec Vie) told LifeSiteNews.com that the ruling is “a complete scandal.” It is, he said, “going further and further to enrich abortionists with taxpayer money.”
Gagnon explained, “We already pay for the so called surgical act of killing those children, we will now have to pay for the surplus the private abortionists take as well.” He concluded that the decision was evidence of the “shameless collaboration between abortionists and the judicial system.”
See the full ruling online (in French):
https://www.trudeljohnston.com/en/avortement/jugement_170806.pdf