The NWT Health and Social Services Authority will not release a breakdown of data on abortions performed through the Northern Operations for Women (NOW) Program, citing privacy concerns.
However, Joyce Arthur, the executive director for the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, maintained that withholding such information adds to the stigma surrounding abortion.
"There's no reason not to be upfront about it and transparent as with any other healthcare procedure," she said, noting there could also be some concern over outing people who provide abortions, though there's much less harassment towards them then there used to be in the 1990s.
What the NWT health authority would say is that 366 people accessed its NOW program last year. That program offers services like counselling, ultrasound evaluations, surgical abortion and medication abortion and prescriptions for birth control after abortions, including IUD (intra-uterine device) insertion.
Conservative candidate for NWT MP Kimberly Fairman has described herself as pro-choice when speaking to SA国际影视传媒 on Nov. 26. She added that members of her party are welcome to run as pro-choice or pro-life. Contrary to the Liberals or the NDP, Conservative candidates can support either stance.
"It's an important issue for me as a woman, so yeah, I'm pro-choice," she said.
How does the Conservative party balance both sides of the abortion debate? Fairman said she understands the complexity of this issue and to her, context is important in terms of the conversation surrounding abortion.
"It's an issue that deserves compassion and needs to be approached that way," she contended.
But Arthur said it's impossible to satisfy both sides and cautioned that Fairman's party might be misleading her.
"How can you balance?" she asked, rhetorically. "Either you want to stop abortions or you're pro-choice. It's one or the other."
On Oct. 9, the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada released an updated report denoting all Conservative MPs as being against abortion because of a unanimous vote for Bill C-311, a private member's bill put forward by Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall.
"We felt this bill was a vehicle for pushing an anti-choice agenda," said Arthur. She admitted the bill itself does not mention abortion, but was backed by anti-choice groups like 'We Need a Law' to establish fetal personhood.
That bill was defeated in 2023 despite every elected Conservative voting in favour. Arthur explained that her organization has since designated federal Conservatives as anti-choice.
The coalition has a clear line delineating someone who's pro-choice from someone who's not. Anyone who would support a law that restricts access to an abortion, they are counted as anti-choice, Arthur explained.
"Abortion is a healthcare procedure, you don't need any separate laws around it. It doesn't need to be criminalized. It can be part of the healthcare sytem," she said.
In its declaration, the Conservative party notes that it supports "conscience rights for doctors, nurses and others to refuse to participate in, or refer their patients for abortion."
When asked about her party's reputation of being pro-life or against abortion, Fairman said she's not interested in talking about other people's positions, but added that Conservative leader Pierre Poillievre won't change legislation that is already in place.
