Government says drug has "serious potential risks" requiring physician oversight
by Paolo Taruc
It’s been nearly a year since abortion pill Mifegymiso became publicly available, but women from Ottawa reportedly still face hurdles in accessing it because of red tape.
“Our hypothesis is there’s a lot of logistical barriers that make it too difficult to turn the medical training into practice, into actual medical abortion being provided,” said Ariane Wylie, Planned Parenthood’s medical abortion access coordinator, in an interview with Ottawa Citizen.
The pill is a non-surgical option to terminate pregnancies up to seven weeks. Health Canada approved it in July 2015, but with several conditions. Among other things, doctors are required to distribute the pills directly to patients, and to perform an ultrasound beforehand to ensure that the pregnancy is neither ectopic nor further along than 49 days. Women are also required to revisit their doctor to ascertain that the abortion was successful.
Other medical associations across Ontario and Canada have guidelines for medical abortion, but Wylie told Ottawa Citizen there are major discrepancies on how care should be provided.
“There’s a sense that there’s a physician or nurse practitioner sitting in the middle being like, ‘I’m interested in providing this but six different sources are telling me information and a lot of it conflicts’.”
“Most of them just say, ‘No, I believe in this ideologically, but I think this is too much work and caught in too much of a maelstrom between all of our governing bodies,” she added.
According to the government, Mifegymiso is a drug with “serious potential risks” requiring physician oversight. In its website, it estimated that up to 1 in 20 women who use the drug will require a follow-up surgical procedure because their pregnancy is not successfully terminated.
Related stories:
Head of BC women's clinic calls for provincial abortion-pill coverage
Pro-choice advocate calls for greater abortion access in Nova Scotia
It’s been nearly a year since abortion pill Mifegymiso became publicly available, but women from Ottawa reportedly still face hurdles in accessing it because of red tape.
“Our hypothesis is there’s a lot of logistical barriers that make it too difficult to turn the medical training into practice, into actual medical abortion being provided,” said Ariane Wylie, Planned Parenthood’s medical abortion access coordinator, in an interview with Ottawa Citizen.
The pill is a non-surgical option to terminate pregnancies up to seven weeks. Health Canada approved it in July 2015, but with several conditions. Among other things, doctors are required to distribute the pills directly to patients, and to perform an ultrasound beforehand to ensure that the pregnancy is neither ectopic nor further along than 49 days. Women are also required to revisit their doctor to ascertain that the abortion was successful.
Other medical associations across Ontario and Canada have guidelines for medical abortion, but Wylie told Ottawa Citizen there are major discrepancies on how care should be provided.
“There’s a sense that there’s a physician or nurse practitioner sitting in the middle being like, ‘I’m interested in providing this but six different sources are telling me information and a lot of it conflicts’.”
“Most of them just say, ‘No, I believe in this ideologically, but I think this is too much work and caught in too much of a maelstrom between all of our governing bodies,” she added.
According to the government, Mifegymiso is a drug with “serious potential risks” requiring physician oversight. In its website, it estimated that up to 1 in 20 women who use the drug will require a follow-up surgical procedure because their pregnancy is not successfully terminated.
Related stories:
Head of BC women's clinic calls for provincial abortion-pill coverage
Pro-choice advocate calls for greater abortion access in Nova Scotia
