Vancouver abortion clinic to close after 35 years, raising concerns over access

After more than 30 years of providing abortion and reproductive health services, Vancouver's Elizabeth Bagshaw Clinic has announced it will close.

In a statement Friday, the clinic's board said the decision follows growing uncertainty linked to changes in the provincial health-care system, including Vancouver Coastal Health's plan to consolidate reproductive services into a new model.

It's unclear what specific impact those changes had on the clinic's operations. CBC News requested an interview with the clinic but did not receive a response.

Vancouver Coastal Health says it's exploring a "single provider, single site" model for delivering reproductive care in the region.

In a statement to CBC News, the health authority confirmed it's considering consolidating the three clinics it currently funds — Elizabeth Bagshaw, Everywoman's Health Centre and Willow Reproductive Health Services — under one provider at one location.

These are the only abortion clinics in Vancouver, besides a program through the B.C. Women's Hospital, according to Options for Sexual Health. The organization said abortions through other providers may require a doctor's referral. 

The move, Vancouver Coastal says, is aimed at increasing service capacity, ensuring financial sustainability and better meeting current demand.

Elizabeth Bagshaw Clinic's board also pointed to an upcoming lease expiry, only one year of confirmed funding and shifting priorities within the health authority as additional challenges. 

"Given the structural challenges, it became unavoidable," the clinic's board said, adding that relocating to a new site didn't make financial sense with limited funding. "This was not a choice the Board wanted to make."

Founded in 1989, the clinic has treated thousands of patients from across B.C. each year, with more than half coming from outside the Vancouver Coastal Health region. Its closure, staff say, will put added strain on an already overburdened system.

"We're just absolutely devastated by the loss," said Dr. Renee Hall, a physician at the clinic and medical director at the nearby Willow Reproductive Health Centre. "Some people have been working there for 35 years."

Hall said efforts are underway to ensure services like abortions, intrauterine device (IUD) insertion and vasectomies continue elsewhere, but gaps may emerge during the transition. 

"We are doing everything that we can to make sure that everything will be covered in time for the Elizabeth Bagshaw closure," she said.

Vancouver Coastal also said it is working with the clinic and other community partners to ensure continuity of care.

The Ministry of Health said the province remains committed to abortion access. 

"Protecting access to abortion services is a key priority," Health Minister Josie Osborne said during an unrelated news conference Friday. "There will be no stop or ending of that access."

Still, some worry about the broader implications of losing one of only three abortion clinics in the city.

"It's going to be a big loss for patients," said Eleanor Fast, director of Everywoman's Health Centre. "We want to move in the direction of more access, more options, and this is obviously going in the opposite direction."

Fast said many of her clinic's patients come from places like Surrey, Abbotsford and even farther away in B.C.

"There are massive sort of deserts of care across the province and across Canada, more generally. And that's obviously a massive problem."

Both Fast and Hall say longer-term investment in reproductive health is urgently needed. 

Hall says she would like to see a "centre of excellence" that not only delivers services but also trains new providers.

"That provides abortion, vasectomy and contraception to this region and also is able to train health-care providers who can go out rurally and, therefore, we can have access all over the province to serve rural areas," she said. 

"British Columbians deserve to know that they can feel secure and be able to get these services when they need them." 

The Elizabeth Bagshaw Clinic says it will remain open until June 30.