Big decline in abortions at 2 southwestern Ontario hospitals over last decade, data shows
CBC
The number of abortions performed at two southwestern Ontario hospitals trended downward over the last 10 years, according to new numbers obtained by CBC News.
Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) performed 604 abortions in the 2012-13 fiscal year compared to 169 in the most recent fiscal year. Meanwhile, Bluewater Health in Sarnia performed 199 abortions 10 years ago and 69 during the most recent fiscal period.
For patients, "I think it does reassure them that they're not on this totally lonely journey [by themselves]," said Dr. Fraser Fellows, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist (ob-gyn) who worked in London from 1974 to 2018. "There's help out there and the evidence is in the numbers that you're revealing to them."
Fellows has been performing abortions since the 1970s. He said he "was happy to provide that option" to ensure the procedure "was done safely and effectively."
A decline in abortions is a sign "the medical community has embraced the concept of a medical abortion, of a non-surgical abortion," Fellows said.
In 2015, Health Canada first approved Mifegymiso, a combination product containing two drugs (mifepristone and misoprostol) that are taken in sequence to terminate a pregnancy. In 2017, the medication was permitted for pregnancies up to nine weeks. Before that, it could be used for pregnancies up to seven weeks.
Three years ago, Health Canada said an ultrasound is no longer required before the drug is prescribed. Doctors can use their "medical judgment on how best to determine the gestational age and to rule out an ectopic pregnancy," according to the federal department.
CBC News first requested abortion-related data from WRH on May 4 — a time when there was speculation that the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade, which protected the right to an abortion.
In June, the majority conservative court ruled 6-3 to overturn the Roe v. Wade interpretation of the Constitution and found it does not protect abortion rights. That opened the door for states to restrict or outright ban abortion.
"We aren't commenting on the issue at this time, most importantly for privacy and security of patients and our clinical staff," said WRH spokesperson Steve Erwin in an email to CBC News.
The next day, CBC News filed a Freedom of Information request seeking the same information. The hospital denied the request again, saying the abortion-related data could seriously threaten an individual's safety and violate someone's privacy. Bluewater Health in Sarnia claimed the same exemptions for denying making the information public.
Following an appeal of the hospitals' decisions, both agreed to release the data roughly five months after the initial request was made.
However, WRH has refused to comment on the information.
"You have the data you requested. We will not be conducting any interviews on the data we have provided," said Erwin in a subsequent email.
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