On the heels of the news that Canadian women are being shipped to the United States for pricey late-term abortions – because no Canadian doctors will commit the grisly procedures – come some hard numbers that illustrate the extent of the phenomenon.

A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Health readily admitted that, at a time when his province’s health system is financially strapped to the point where hospitals are cutting back essential services, Ontario paid for 56 out-of-country, allegedly “medically necessary” late-term abortions (after five months’ gestation) during fiscal year 2003-2004, at a cost to provincial taxpayers of just under $400,000.

The spokesperson couldn’t elaborate on what “medically necessary” meant in those situations when pressed by Barbara McAdorey, who was writing an article on the issue as the editor of the LifeCanada News publication.

McAdorey also found that between April 2002 and March 2003, British Columbia paid for 54 late-term abortions in the state of Washington, at a cost of approximately $2,800 (Cdn) each. According to a B.C. Ministry of Health spokesperson, such abortions require a letter from a referring physician stating that they are “medically necessary” and must be accompanied by proof, via an ultrasound scan, that the preborn child is at least five months old.

In Quebec, 30 pregnant women were sent to George “Tiller the Killer” in Wichita, Ks. last year for late-term abortions at a cost of about $5,000 each. McAdorey was not able to get an immediate response from Alberta as to its policies and practices regarding late-term, out-of-country abortions.

McAdorey got in touch with the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada, one of this country’s foremost pro-abortion organizations, and asked its executive director, Linda Capperauld, whether it had ethical problems with abortions at six months’ gestation or later.

“PPFC’s current position statement on abortion is being review by the PPFC board of directors at its October meeting,” replied Capperauld in an e-mail. “The new position statement will be available on the PPFC website (www.ppfc.ca) by the end of October.”

McAdorey also contacted the Canadian Medical Association to get its reaction to the situation, but was met with evasiveness. The CMA first responded by sending the policy statement on abortion that appears on its website. It then added that “there are no further details concerning the issues you are discussing” when asked to elaborate further.

McAdorey told The Interim she didn’t determine whether the costs of the abortions in the various provinces included expenses for items such as travel, lodging and food, or were just for the abortions themselves. However, she noted that late-term abortions are usually very expensive and the disadvantageous exchange rate adds to the costs for Canadians.

She expressed surprise at the rapidity with which each province provided the numbers and costs of late-term, out-of-country abortions. Pro-life advocates in Ontario, for example, have long been complaining about the secrecy surrounding expenditures for abortions in the province, which has even extended to concealing the public costs of security at Henry Morgentaler’s Toronto abortuary (at least until Interim columnist Frank Kennedy accessed the data following a lengthy freedom of access to information effort).

“I probably got the information (from Ontario) because the Quebec government was being upfront about it,” said McAdorey. “I think it would have looked bad if the Ontario government didn’t give the same sort of information.”

Pro-life and religious leaders across Canada have been condemning the expenditures of public funds for late-term, out-of-country abortions and have called on respective ministers of health to rein in such spending.

They are also urging rank-and-file pro-life supporters to contact their provincial ministers of health and voice displeasure over this state of affairs.