N.B. minister defends funding private cataract surgery clinics, refusing abortion clinics

The Higgs government says there's no contradiction between its funding of cataract surgeries in private clinics outside hospitals and its refusal to pay for surgical abortions in clinics.

Health Minister Bruce Fitch told reporters that Medicare covers the cataract surgeries because there's a long wait list for the procedure that the new private clinics are helping to reduce.

"The big thing that we have to point to is the wait line and the wait time," he said, calling cataract surgeries "one of the areas where we could move quickly."

"On the abortion question, we're not seeing the wait line or the wait time," he said.

"People have access through various means. Some of the methods have improved," he added, referring to the growing share of medical abortions using the so-called "abortion pill" covered by Medicare.

But Fitch's comments on access are at odds with a new research study that found women paying for the procedure at Fredericton's Clinic 554 get it earlier in their pregnancies than those going to hospitals, where the cost is covered.

The report released Monday said that more than 60 per cent of abortions at the clinic happened before the ninth week of pregnancies, compared to only 30 per cent on average in Canadian hospitals.

With 85 per cent of patients paying the full fee out of pocket, the report's authors concluded this amounts to unequal access.

WATCH | Here's why cataract surgeries trump surgical abortions for new clinic model:

Health minister says no issues with N.B. abortion access

11 months ago

Duration 2:07

New Brunswickers can get cataract surgeries covered by medicare even if they're performed outside hospitals. The same does not apply to surgical abortions performed outside hospitals.

Fitch did not say why he thought women would choose a for-fee service over one that is covered by Medicare at the three hospitals.

"That's a decision that they make. That's a decision people make," he said.

Long hospital abortion waits, says Clinic 554 manager

The manager of Fredericton's Clinic 554 Valerya Edelman told CBC News that she encountered a new example of limits on hospital access just this week.

Edelman said a patient was referred to the clinic because there were no abortion appointments available at the hospital in Bathurst until early December, and at the two hospitals in Moncton until late December.

Those three hospitals are the only ones providing the service. But in each case the delay meant the woman's pregnancy would be past the point of gestation where their policies allow them to do the procedure.

"That tells me that there's not enough access in the hospitals. The wait times are long."

Fitch said the government asked regional health authorities to look at whether surgical abortions were accessible and "the answer was 'Yes.' That's where we don't see the wait lines, we don't see the wait times."

Horizon Health CEO Margaret Melanson backed him up.

"During the time that I have been interim CEO, I have not had any concern expressed to me personally with regard to challenges with regard to wait time or access," she said.

Edelman said the claims by Fitch and Melanson are "just rhetoric to support their restrictions on abortion access."

The minister and the Horizon CEO made the comments at the official opening of the province's third private cataract surgery clinic.

The government passed legislation last year allowing surgeries to happen outside hospitals.

Fitch said similar clinics in Bathurst and Miramichi have done 2,521 and 1,169 cataract surgeries, respectively, since opening in the last year.

Horizon's wait time for cataract surgery has been cut to 231 days from326, on the way to meeting the national benchmark of 112 days in the next year, Melanson said.

She did not provide data on the wait time for a surgical abortion at Horizon's Moncton Hospital.

The other two hospitals providing abortions are VitalitHealthcentresin Moncton and Bathurst.

The abortion access report highlighted the legalization of non-hospital surgeries to permit the cataract clinics, pointing out the government's stated rationale was to "improve service to patients and alleviate pressure on our hospital system."

"The same benefits can be observed for clinic-based abortion care," the report said.

The building housing Clinic 554 was sold in 2022, but the clinic is continuing to rent space and provide abortions one day each week.

The clinic charges $700, or $850 for patients at 14 and 15 weeks of gestation. It waives the fee for women who can't afford it.