For the first time, Squamish women have access to the same standard of care as women in the city when it comes to abortion and reproductive health services.
A new clinic has recently opened that provides abortions up to 14 or 15 weeks gestation as well as comprehensive reproductive health care for those women.
Alpenglow Women's Clinic offers medical and surgical abortions.
Previously, women had to travel to Vancouver.
The name of the clinic comes from alpenglow — light reflected off the mountains after sunset or before sunrise.
"It is really analogous to the clinics in Vancouver," a doctor involved in the clinic explained to The Chief. "We have the same offerings in terms of medical or surgical options for abortions."
The Chief is not revealing the doctors' identity for safety and privacy reasons.
To access the clinic, a woman can phone or email directly or be referred through a walk-in clinic or by a family doctor.
A nurse practitioner will be the first point of contact in the process. The nurse will do an intake interview, provide consultation on pregnancy options and can order any tests needed
The clinic is also part of the Safe Methods program, a pilot project initiative for one year funded by the provincial government to provide women who have had an unwanted pregnancy with contraception.
The clinic will be able to offer free birth control for women with MSP coverage who have had an abortion starting Nov. 20.
One of the goals of the clinic is to give women seeking abortion long-term reproductive choice by providing free contraception, said the doctor, who added the contraception covered by the program includes Mirena intrauterine devices (IUDs), copper IUDs, one package of the birth control pill or one Depo-Provera injectable contraception.
Though all surgical abortions will be done in Squamish, Alpenglow will be a regional service with the goal to make it accessible for women throughout the Sea to Sky Corridor. A physician in Whistler is also involved in the clinic.
All services are confidential and non-judgmental, the doctor stressed.
A spokesperson for Howe Sound Women's Centre Society said the society is supportive of "services in the Sea to Sky Corridor that prioritize safe, affordable access to women's healthcare."
In 2015, the most recent year stats are available, there were approximately 100,000 abortions in Canada, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). There were just over 13,000 abortion procedures in B.C. in 2015.
To contact the Alpenglow Women's Clinic, email [email protected] or call 604-812-2127. For more information go to, alpenglowclinic.com.
**Please note, this story was updated when new information became available.
