Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Abortion may be legal in Canada but accessing services very much depends on where you live.
Abortion rights advocate Robyn Schwarz told CTV's Your Morning on Monday that even though the procedure was decriminalized in Canada in 1988, as a result of the Supreme Court's decision in R. v. Morgentaler, the country has seen a significant access "crisis," particularly in rural and Indigenous communities, as well as certain provinces.
Factors such as stigma and limited health-care funding limit access to abortion, she says, as does geography.
"Depending on where you live and who your hospital is, it could be quite difficult for you in your own community to get access to an abortion, and oftentimes in these smaller places the doctors or hospitals do not want to say they do abortions still and that's happening in Canada in 2022," Schwarz said.
Concerns over access to abortion have heightened in recent days after the U.S. Supreme Court ended nearly 50 years of constitutional protections for the procedure last Friday by overturning the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade. About half of U.S. states are now expected to ban abortion in some form as a result.
Unless you live in a major urban centre such as Toronto or Vancouver, accessing abortion services may require leaving your community or province and spending money out-of-pocket to travel elsewhere in order to get the procedure done, Schwarz says.
"If I had a heart attack in my home community and was told, 'Hey, you need to now travel by plane to another province to get this service,' every single time, that would not be considered good health care, and so that's where we're at and that's what we've had happen," she said.
Watch the full interview with Robyn Schwarz at the top of the article.
With files from CTV News and The Associated Press
-------
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, CTVNews.ca wants to hear from Canadians who have had an abortion.
Did you struggle to access abortion services or information in Canada? Was it difficult to secure an appointment?
Tell us your story by emailing dotcom@bellmedia.ca, and include your name and location. Your comments may be used in a CTVNews.ca story.
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.