FREDERICTON – The government of New Brunswick will not appeal a court ruling that gives Dr. Henry Morgentaler the right to sue the province to pay for abortions at his private clinic in Fredericton.
In May, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal dismissed a provincial claim that Morgentaler didn’t have standing to represent the interests of women in the province.
Health Minister Mary Schryer said the bigger legal case regarding payments is still before the courts and the province’s position has not changed.
“The New Brunswick Court of Appeal decision concerned a procedural matter, namely the issue of standing, not the merits of the case,” said Schryer in a statement Tuesday.
“The legal case will continue to move forward. The position of the Province of New Brunswick has not changed in respect to this issue.”
Schryer declined to comment further because the matter is still before the courts.
New Brunswick is the only province in Canada that doesn’t pay for abortions in private clinics.
A woman can only get a publicly funded abortion at a hospital in New Brunswick if two doctors rule it’s medically necessary.
Hundreds of women pay out of their own pockets for procedures at Morgentaler’s clinic in Fredericton at a cost believed to be between $500 to $750 per procedure, depending on how far along a woman is in her pregnancy.
