Women’s clinic seeks more funding; turned away 500 women in 2022

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This article was published 28/06/2023 (801 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Women’s Health Clinic had to turn away 500 women who sought an abortion last year because the clinic was over capacity.

Executive director Kemlin Nembhard said the clinic is seeking additional funding — about $400,000 — to allow it to perform 700 more abortions annually. It represents one-third of its funding.

“There’s a huge need, and we can’t meet the full need,” Nembhard said Wednesday.

Women’s Health Clinic is one of three locations that provide surgical abortions in Manitoba, along with the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg and Brandon Regional Health Centre.

The clinic is funded to provide 1,600 abortions per year, but consistently exceeds that number and is the main abortion provider in the province, Nembhard said.

The clinic booked 2,200 patients for abortion care in 2022. It provides medical and surgical abortions as part of its reproductive health care for patients in Manitoba, northwestern Ontario, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, and occasionally the U.S., Nembhard said.

She said the clinic provides surgical abortions up to 16 weeks of gestation, whereas HSC does up to 19 weeks. Any patients beyond 19 weeks have to be referred out of province.

Over the past six years, the Women’s Health Clinic has booked an increasing number of patients for abortions, Nembhard said, but only began tracking the number of patients that had to be turned away a couple of years ago.

“We’ve done as much as possible to try to meet that need,” she said.

Nembhard said the clinic is working with the provincial government to try to secure more funding, saying it’s cheaper for abortions to be performed in the community clinic rather than in a hospital or out-of-province facility.

In a statement, a Winnipeg Regional Health Authority spokesperson said a request by the clinic for additional funding has been reviewed by the diagnostic and surgery task force and “is currently moving to next steps in the approval process.”

“The WRHA continues to support Women’s Health Clinic and is working with leadership at the clinic on their submission,” the statement reads.

The clinic has stated it’s been trying to tackle high patient volumes and long wait lists so it doesn’t have to turn patients away. All of its practitioners at its two locations, on Graham Avenue and Portage Avenue, are trained to provide medication abortions.

The clinic maintains a database of pharmacies that stock Mifegymiso and Misoprostol in rural areas, as well as a list of other practitioners that provide medication abortions. The clinic has dedicated a staff person to complete intakes “to manage the inundation of calls from clients requesting appointments,” the clinic stated.

One year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that protected abortion rights in that country, Canada still has a lot to learn about ensuring equal access to abortion, Nembhard said.

“We need to follow that up with increases in funding and… having more abortion providers in places where you can access abortion,” she said, saying it’s not enough that abortion is legally protected; it has to be accessible.

“Abortion care should be equally accessible no matter what your circumstances.”

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com