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Demonstration in Fredericton as private abortion clinic to lose its doctor

FREDERICTON — A doctor who runs a private abortion clinic in Fredericton says he can’t afford to continue subsidizing the service and is leaving the practice for another job at the end of this month.
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FREDERICTON — A doctor who runs a private abortion clinic in Fredericton says he can’t afford to continue subsidizing the service and is leaving the practice for another job at the end of this month.

Dr. Adrian Edgar says he’s applied for a contract with the military, and Clinic 554 — the former Morgentaler Clinic — is still for sale more than a year after it was put on the market.

Edgar says until it’s sold, the facility is available if the lobby group Reproductive Justice New Brunswick can recruit another doctor, or if another physician wants it for a family practice.

For years, the clinic has blamed its impending closure on a long-standing provincial refusal to fund surgical abortions performed outside a hospital.

About two dozen people staged a quiet demonstration in front of the New Brunswick legislature Saturday, accusing the province of violating the Canada Health Act.

The government has repeatedly defended its position, saying it provides access to abortion services at the Moncton Hospital, Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton and the Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst.