Quebec abortion pill prescriptions increase by 80% as barriers to access fall
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Years after Quebec relaxed restrictions on the medical abortion pill, the province saw a nearly 80 per cent increase in use in 2025, according to data from the Quebec Public Health Insurance Board, also known as RAMQ.
A total of 2,852 women were reimbursed for taking mifezimiso last year, compared to 1,586 in 2024. medicine allows For people to have an abortion naturally, without the need for a surgical procedure.
“It has been used around the world for years,” said Dr. Dianne Francoeur, OBGYN of Canada and CEO of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
“But Canada is lagging behind all the time, especially Quebec… because there was so much regulation around it.”
Only in 2022 did Quebec remove a series of requirements related to the drug – making it significantly more accessible
But Francoeur says the higher rates of medication abortions don’t mean abortions are necessarily on the rise.
Experts in the province say abortion rates in Quebec have remained relatively stable and the increase in prescriptions for the abortion pill is good news, partly because of its safety and accessibility.
Quebec lags behind the rest of Canada
It’s a good thing the numbers are rising, given that Quebec “lags behind all of Canada,” said Dr. Mathieu Bélanger, an obstetrician-gynecologist. CHU de Québec-Université Laval Hospital.
“It can be prescribed, and people can even do it at home. We know it’s safe and, like it or not, it’s being promoted,” he told Radio-Canada.
Miscarriage occurred after medication Approved by Health Canada in 2015Jess Legault, general coordinator of the Family Planning Organization of Quebec (FQPN), says there were some “very rigid” set parameters that most of the country immediately shrugged off.
This was not the case in Quebec.
She says Quebec doctors were required to be trained to perform procedural abortions, Dilation and curettage is known as D&C, If they need to prescribe a medical abortion – the pill. Patients also had to undergo ultrasound.
Legault says that maintaining these restrictions “was not based on science”.
“It really restricted who could write,” she said.
FQPN was one of the groups putting pressure on Quebec College of Physicians To make medicine more available – especially after the Roe v. Wade ruling in the US
Over the years, Legault says Government plans to expand access in Quebec.
Announced in 2024 Martine Biron, then minister responsible for the status of women. The plan outlined 28 measures based on four general objectives: facilitating access to abortion in the regions, combating misinformation, improving information on contraception, and promoting research.
Following Donald Trump’s re-election as president, politicians in Quebec and some groups defending women’s right to an abortion in Canada say they are concerned about the future of women’s right to choose north of the border. Some advocates say the rhetoric is dangerous and could spill over into Canadian politics.
Currently, doctors, specialized nurse practitioners and midwives can prescribe the abortion pill. In some cases, it may also be prescribed through telemedicine.
Legault says that’s partly why the province is now seeing higher numbers — as well as There is much more information available.
“There was a time when people got confused between the morning-after emergency contraceptive pill and the abortion drug. They did not know that these were two different things,” he said.
Doctor says this pill helps women to abort
Francoeur suspects that another reason for the increase in pill use is that more women are turning to the drug when the fetus stops growing in the womb.
“The baby isn’t going to come out on its own, but it’s there, and sometimes it can take weeks for the pregnancy to come out,” Francoeur said.
Previously, doctors had to perform a procedural abortionShe says. Now, they have options.
Although women can still opt for procedural abortions, access to care is “so poor” that women are sometimes forced to wait up to a week before getting surgery, Francoeur says.
Legault says he has heard of clinics reducing the number of days they can perform procedural abortions in favor of increasing access to medication abortion.
But she says it’s important that the increase in drug-prescribing practices doesn’t come at the expense of necessary procedures — which are expensive and take more time.
