A new provincial network wants to change the conversation about abortion care in New Brunswick.
The New Brunswick Abortion Care Network is made up of around 20 abortion care providers.
It launched over the weekend to mark the 35th anniversary of the Morgentaler decision,
Dr. Martha Paynter, one of the founding members, said one of their goals is to increase education.
“The public remains underinformed about how to access abortion in this province and the service remains very stigmatized,” Paynter said in a recent interview.
New Brunswick has made “significant strides” to improve access in recent years, said Paynter, such as introducing self-referral to three family planning centres in 2014, and provincial funding for medication abortion in 2017.
However, Paynter said many New Brunswickers are still not aware of this information.
“We simply need to share that information more,” said Paynter, who is also a professor in nursing at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.
Paynter said now is the time to address remaining access issues such as information and travel barriers to improve the timeliness, safety, and acceptability of abortion care for patients across the province.
The new network also wants to increase the number of healthcare professionals who prescribe medication abortion.
“In theory, any family doctor, any nurse practitioner can prescribe medication abortion. There’s only a couple dozen who do,” said Paynter.
“What we can do through our network is support providers who want to start doing this but didn’t get that training in medical school or nurse practitioner program.”
If you are an abortion care provider or would like to learn about how to become one, you can contact the New Brunswick Abortion Care Network by emailing nbabortioncarenetwork@gmail.com.
