Volunteer helpers and 'virtual clinics' address abortion care gap in northeast

Hours after she's hung up her stethoscope and shut off the lights in her office at Lady Dunn Health Centre in Wawa, Ont., Tricia Provost is still on the job in a "virtual abortion clinic."

"So for my patients, they get my cellphone number. They get 24-hour access to me," said the nurse practitioner, who prescribes abortion medication to dozens of women across northern Ontario every year.

"It's exactly what I would want."

Provost wants to hear from patients who might be having complications at home after taking the two-dose medication or even if they are just feeling uncertain and want to speak with someone.

It's part of the service she and colleagues have provided since opening the virtual clinic in 2021, which helps women terminate a pregnancy within the first 10 weeks. 

Provost has also worked to get pharmacies in Sault Ste. Marie and elsewhere to carry the medication and has had to chew some of them out when she finds out that staff have been gossiping about her patients.

She hopes the growing abortion debate in the United States following the overturning of Roe v. Wade will spark a larger discussion about access in Ontario.

"I think that's a piece of the puzzle that the government really needs to look at and say 'It's so much more burdensome for women in the north to access care they should have access to," said Provost. 

"The majority of women just seem so thankful and so grateful."

A doctor who performs surgical abortions in the northeast, who CBC News is not identifying for security reasons, said the province needs to provide more funding for abortion services across the province and in particular in the north, where it often affects women's access.

But the doctor said it isn't their place to suggest how the health system should be redesigned.

"I just want to give patients the most dignified care possible," they said. 

"That is what I can control."

The doctor does say that the stigma felt by their patients is one of the biggest problems.

"Unfortunately we still have groups and individuals in our society who feel that it is important to make patients uncomfortable in their decision to access abortion, whether it is legal or not," they said. 

The Sudbury-Manitoulin Abortion Support Collective was formed by volunteers during the pandemic to try to help women find abortion care and support them in the difficult days afterward. 

"It's just not accessible enough," said member Amber Gaudreault, who also sees stigma as a major obstacle. 

"It makes it less accessible for people who need them and it makes it difficult for providers to provide that care."

The Ontario Ministry of Health refused to answer any of CBC's questions about abortion access in northern Ontario.

In a statement, the ministry said it "continues to support access to medically necessary services across the province and in the north," citing the northern travel grant program as an example.