Clinic 554 in Fredericton. (Image: Facebook)
Tents are springing up on the grounds of the Legislature in support of Clinic 554.
UNB Law student Melissa Lukings says we’re running out of time.
“It is very close, it’s starting to get very questionable. we need intervention right now. What’s happening is that we aren’t getting anywhere with the provincial government so what we’re doing now is we’re calling on the federal government,” she said.
The idea to camp out on the grounds came after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg hit the law students hard.
Lukings said the idea that there would be a new Supreme Court judge appointed who would undo all of Ginsburg’s work hit the law students really hard. That’s when UNB Law graduate Kathleen Adams came up with the idea.
“We want to have an open discussion, a dialogue, with the new majority government. Let’s sit down and talk about it, peacefully,” said Adams.
In a release, Adams said, “Premier Blaine Higgs keeps changing the criteria he wants to improve access and prove that the province is breaking the Canada Health”.
“We all just want to make the world a little better and we can be closer to doing that if we can just have that kind of dialogue. So let’s talk about it,” said Adams.
If Clinic 554 does not receive funding, it closes at the end of the month
“Directly fund the clinic to get us through to March when the next federal health transfers happen, because it’s one thing to say we’ll not fund you in March and we’ll take money away then, but this is an issue now and the clinic won’t make it till March,” she said.
Lukings said if it doesn’t cost the province any more money it doesn’t make sense not to keep the clinic going.
“We need this clinic funded until such time as the New Brunswick government can then be held accountable by having this money lost in March but we need the money now to keep the clinic going or else by the time we get to March, it’ll be too late,” she said.
Lukings said it’s cheaper for the provincial government to fund abortions performed outside hospitals as opposed to inside them.
“We shouldn’t have to do this,” Lukings said.
“It’s basic healthcare funding and the economic argument of saying we can’t afford to fund that, it’s actually cheaper.”
Clinic 554 is a family clinic serving 2,000 to 3,000 patients including queer and trans community members. It also provides abortion access. Due to regulation 84-20 of the Medical Services Payment Act, any patient who accesses abortion services outside of a hospital must pay over $750 out of pocket.
