Nova Scotia Health Minister Randy Delorey says the province is addressing concerns about abortion access.
Nova Scotia is the only province in Canada that requires a referral before booking an abortion, and Delorey says it appears that is an historical practice rather than law.
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Delorey says he has asked staff at the Nova Scotia Health Authority and the Health Department to look into concerns and report back on how to improve access.
He says if the need for a referral is convention rather than law, the province would face fewer hurdles to making changes.
Doctor Lianne Yoshida, the medical co-director of the QEII hospital’s Termination of Pregnancy Unit in Halifax, says she is putting together recommendations to improve abortion access for the provincial government.
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But she says waiving the referral is only the first step.
Yoshida says women should be able to book one appointment and have ultrasound and blood tests done on the same day as the abortion procedure.