The raising of a pro-life flag outside the Saskatchewan legislature prompted an NDP MLA to call for abortions in Prince Albert and later-term abortions in Saskatoon.Jennifer Bowes (Saskatoon University) raised the issue Wednesday in the legislature."As it stands, women in northern Saskatchewan seeking a surgical abortion have to travel all the way to Saskatoon. Still, Mr. Speaker. We raised this last year, but still we see no action from this government. We called for an expansion of surgical abortion access to Prince Albert," Bowes said."Why hasn’t the Sask Party done anything to address this for Saskatchewan women? Does it have anything to do with the fact that we see the anti-choice flag being flown at the legislature today?"Health Minister Everett Hindley (Swift Current) replied,"Abortion is an insured service under the Canada Health Act, Mr. Speaker, and Saskatchewan, like other provinces and territories, funds hospital and physician costs related to abortion services," he said."It’s important for us to be listening to people when it comes to health care — to patients, to front-line health care providers."Hindley pivoted to explain that the province would, for the first time, provide financial assistance for families with children under 16 that need to be referred out of province for medical procedures. Up to $2,000 for travel and accommodation costs will be covered.Bowes was unsatisfied."It’s disappointing that this minister can’t even say the word 'abortion.' Nothing has been done to expand access in this province," she said."The window of access for a surgical abortion is different in Saskatoon than it is in Regina. When we raised this issue back in November of 2022 and March of 2023, the previous minister said the SHA [Saskatchewan Health Authority] was working on fixing this."Hindley said Bowes should check Hansard to see he did say "abortion.""As was referenced in the 2023‑24 budget, funding was allocated to align both referral processes in Regina and in Saskatoon as well as to upskill obstetricians in Saskatoon, allowing them to extend abortion service to align with Regina, Mr. Speaker. And that work is underway by the SHA," Hindley continued.Bowes replied, "The last health minister told us in committee on March 8th, 2023, well over a year ago, 'The SHA is looking into this and I’ll trust they’ll do the right thing.' The right thing, Mr. Speaker, means offering a uniform time frame for guaranteed surgical abortion in Saskatchewan."A spokesperson for the SHA emailed Western Standard to say email the "vast majority" of "surgical terminations" occur in Regina and Saskatoon, but are only available in Saskatoon up to 14 weeks gestation."There are extended surgical procedures available in Regina for up to 19 weeks 6 days, with reviews on a case-by-case basis for up to 22 weeks," the SHA said."Saskatoon is in the process of expanding its surgical procedures, with anticipation of providing similar service levels as Regina later this year."Saskatchewan amalgamated 12 health regions on December 4, 2017 to form the SHA. The Western Standard asked Hindley if the effort to create uniform policies had undermined local autonomy."There still is an opportunity for local involvement in local decision-making when it comes to health care. And that remains important," Hindley replied.Hindley said the SHA considered the needs of rural, urban, remote, and indigenous communities, but supported uniform policy.According to NDP sources, the flag-raising Bowes referred to was not made on a legislative flag pole, but one brought for the occasion. It was alleged the delegation had been welcomed by Sask Party MLA Greg Ottenbreit, but he told Western Standard this was not the case. "I had no knowledge of the pro life group at the legislature that day and only learned about their event and raising of their flag when it came up during QP," Ottenbreit said by email."They must have removed it by the time I left late in the day as I never had the opportunity to see it or meet those in attendance."
