MIL-OSI Canada: Government of Canada protecting reproductive freedom and covering essential health care costs

October 29, 2024 – Ottawa, Ontario – Department of Finance Canada

Every woman should be free to make her own decisions about her own body. Every woman in Canada should have access to the health care she needs.

Today, however, concerns have been raised that some registered charities that offer reproductive health services to women, including pregnancy options counselling—and that are provided federal supports under the tax system—may be spreading misinformation by presenting themselves as a neutral, full-service pregnancy support service organization, when they are in fact anti-choice organizations that push women away from accessing the reproductive care of their choice. By concealing the true nature of their services, these organizations, known as crisis pregnancy centres, are restricting the rights of vulnerable pregnant women to choose the reproductive care appropriate to them and their circumstances.

The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, alongside the Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant, today announced new action to protect reproductive freedom and updated on the government’s progress covering the costs of contraception, dental care, and diabetes medications for Canadians.

First, the federal government will introduce legislation to require more transparency from charities providing pregnancy counselling. Specifically, registered charities whose purpose or one of their main activities is to provide pregnancy and reproductive health supports and services, including pregnancy options counselling, would be required to explicitly disclose if they do not provide abortions, birth control, or referrals to these services. Organizations that do not clearly and prominently provide the required transparency risk losing charitable status.

This measure aims to improve the distribution of accurate information in reproductive health care and builds on other measures that the government is taking to improve health care for all Canadians.

Second, the Minister of Health announced that more than 2.7 million Canadians are now covered by the Canadian Dental Care Plan and nearly 1 million of them have already had their dental visits covered. Already, the Canadian Dental Care Plan has covered $732 million in dental expenses for Canadians, or about $730 per covered Canadian this year. The government is on track to cover 9 million Canadians, currently without dental insurance, in 2025.

Third, the Minister of Health highlighted that the Pharmacare Act has received Royal Assent on October 10, 2024. The passage of this legislation enables the federal government to reach agreements with provinces and territories to provide free contraception and diabetes medications. Once agreements are reached, coverage through existing provincial and territorial programs would be enhanced to provide free contraceptives and free life-saving diabetes medications, saving Canadians $300 per year and $1,700 per year, respectively.

Fourth, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance announced that in October, the federal government transferred $4.34 billion for health care to provinces and territories. In 2024-25, Canada Health Transfer payments will total $52.1 billion—equivalent to $1 billion every week. The federal government is providing $200 billion over 10 years for provinces and territories to increase access to family doctors, reduce wait times for surgery, and enable patients and their health care teams to share data.