Abortion in Quebec: province aims to boost access to pills, contraception [Video]

Quebec wants to improve access to abortion services as part of a new plan to counter what the government describes as an erosion of women’s rights around the world.

Martine Biron, Quebec’s minister for the status of women, described the government’s $7.5-million plan, published Monday morning, as a bulwark against threats to reproductive rights from south of the border. She said one-third of Canadian women will have an abortion during their lifetime.

“What I want to say to the women of Quebec is that I will protect them,” she told reporters during a news conference in Montreal. “Our government is ready to protect the rights of women.”

Biron said there is an overwhelming consensus on abortion in Quebec, with 90 per cent of Quebecers supporting a woman’s right to choose. But the 2022 United States Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has mobilized anti-choice groups in Quebec and …