Barbara Sibbald Archives - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(News) Abortion payment

Barbara Sibbald

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
The New Brunswick government is refusing to pay for abortions performed at private clinics, despite renewed warnings from Ottawa. Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh told the province it is violating the Canada Health Act . . . New Brunswick medicare only pays for abortions up to 12 weeks, performed in hospitals with the approval of 2 physicians. About 600 women a year pay up to 750 for the procedure at the Morgentaler clinic.

Sibbald B. Abortion payment. Can Med Assoc J. 2005 Mar 1;172(5):624.

(New) “Abortion pill” use

Barbara Sibbald

Extract
Three years after the US government approved mifepristone (Mifeprex or RU-486), use of the so-called “abortion pill” has increased 70%. . . . Mifepristone, a progesterone blocker, induces abortion in women who are up to 8 weeks pregnant.

Sibbald B. “Abortion pill” use. Can Med Assoc J. 2004 Sep 28;171(7):718.

(News) Emergency contraception could lower abortion rate

Barbara Sibbald

Extract
Anti-abortion groups should welcome proposed new regulation allowing patients to access emergency contraception without a prescription, says the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. . . . Emergency contraception, or the “morning after pill,” is sold in Canada as levonorgestrel (Plan B). If taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, it can prevent ovulation, or interfere with fertilization, or implantation. . .The Catholic Organization for Life and Family and other anti-abortion groups believe pregnancy begins with conception, not implantation. In a letter to Health Canada, the organization called levonorgestrel an “abortifacient.”.

Sibbald B. Emergency contraception could lower abortion rate. Can Med Assoc J. 2004 Jun 22;170(13):1903.

(News) “Abortion pill” use doubles

Barbara Sibbald

Extract
Two years after the US government approved the use of mifepristone (RU-486), the “abortion pill’s” popularity has nearly doubled. . . . Mifepristone, a progesterone blocker, induces abortion in women who are up to 8 weeks’ pregnant.

Sibbald B. News@a glance: “Abortion pill” use doubles. Can Med Assoc J. 2003 Aug 19;169(4):330.

(News)Police still investigating sniper attacks on MDs

Barbara Sibbald

Extract
James Kopp has been found guilty of murdering New York state obstetrician Dr. Barnett Slepian, but police are still trying to close other cases involving Canadian physicians who were shot. Kopp remains a suspect in the non- fatal shootings of physicians who provided abortions in Winnipeg, Vancouver and Ancaster, Ont. He has been charged in the last case — Dr. Hugh Short was shot in the right arm as he sat in his home Nov. 10, 1995 (CMAJ 1998;159[9]:1153-5) — but there is in- sufficient evidence linking him to the Winnipeg or Vancouver cases.

Sibbald B. Police still investigating sniper attacks on MDs. Can Med Assoc J. 2003 May 27;168(11):1456.

(News) Popularity of “abortion pill” grows in US

Barbara Sibbald

Extract
The number of prescriptions issued for mifepristone (RU-486), the “abortion pill” introduced in the US 2 years ago, is increasing more rapidly than expected, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) says. . . The PPFA says the success of the new method is important because “the lack of abortion providers is an acute problem in the United States.”.

Sibbald B. Popularity of “abortion pill” grows in US. Can Med Assoc J. 2003 Jan 21;168(2):211.

(News) Over-the-counter emergency contraception available soon across the country?

Barbara Sibbald

Extract
Following a Feb. 16 meeting with the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) and 4 other organizations, Health Canada has started working toward making emergency postcoital contraception available without a prescription across the country . . . Senikas says some opponents equate EPC with abortion and “have this misplaced notion that emergency contraception is like RU-486. It’s not. It will never displace a pregnancy.

Sibbald B. Over-the-counter emergency contraception available soon across the country? Can Med Assoc J. 2001 Mar 20;164(6):849.

(News) Will Canada follow US lead on RU486?

Barbara Sibbald

Extract
After 17 years of debate, mifepristone (RU 486), the controversial pill that induces early abortion, is for sale in the US. The drug’s Canadian proponents hope this country will soon follow suit. . . . The SOGC passed a resolution in 1992 supporting the “legal availability” of antiprogesterone steroids such as mifepristone in order to give “Canadian women access to treatment of proven efficacy.” Lalonde says withholding approval is an “insult to women — they’re being treated like babies, being refused access to this and that when it comes to their health.” Not everyone is as enthusiastic. Mary Ellen Douglas, national organizer for Canada’s Campaign Life Coalition (www.lifesite.net), told CMAJ: “The result of taking this pill is a dead baby, and that’s certainly not a drug we need here.”

Sibbald B. Will Canada follow US lead on RU486?. Can Med Assoc J. 2001 Jan 09;164(1):82.

(News) FDA considering restricted access to “abortion pill”

Barbara Sibbald

Extract
Mifepristone, the controversial “abortion pill,” may soon be available in the US, but the distribution rules may be so strict that they “hurt access.”. . . Mifepristone has been available to women in many European countries for more than a decade. More than 500 000 women worldwide have used it, with few complications reported. When taken with misoprostol, which has already been approved in Canada, mifepristone causes abortion – in essence a miscarriage – in 95% of women who are no more than 49 days pregnant.

Sibbald B. FDA considering restricted access to “abortion pill”. Can Med Assoc J. 2000 Sep 5;163(5):586.

(News) With teen pregnancies skyrocketing, ob/gyns seek support for nonprescription “morning-after pill”

Barbara Sibbald

Extract
Support for a move to make emergency postcoital contraception available without a prescription appears to be mushrooming in Canada. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) and 23 other medical and pharmaceutical organizations have joined the groundswell of support since the SOGC launched a campaign to increase awareness and availability of the “morning-after pill” in November 1998. . . some CPhA members feel emergency contraception “may interfere with implantation of the fertilized egg and they consider that more [like] abortion,” said Cooper. Pharmacists for Life, a Canadian group with about 10 members, has already opposed the move, even though the World Health Organization (WHO) says taking the drug is not equivalent to performing an abortion because the woman is not pregnant.

Sibbald B. With teen pregnancies skyrocketing, ob/gyns seek support for nonprescription “morning-after pill”. Can Med Assoc J. 1999 Oct 5;161(7):855.