Access to free birth control begins in British Columbia
Access to free birth control begins in British Columbia
Health-care providers are calling Saturday a "historic step for health care" in British Columbia, as the province begins offering free access to birth control.
Six different contraceptive methods are impacted, including IUDs, hormone injections and the morning-after pill.
In North Vancouver, Dr. Shideh Shadfar hadn’t seen any customers looking for the free birth control at her pharmacy by mid-afternoon, but believes the announcement is still too new.
“This increases the affordability and accessibility to all British Columbian residents, “ said Shadfar. “It will also help (people) to decrease costs and not to be worried about their contraceptives.”
According to the province, later this spring, pharmacists like Shadfar will have more responsibility.
"The great news is that in the summer pharmacists will have the ability to prescribe contraceptives without going to your doctor,” she said.
As the province struggles with a dire doctor shortage, the additional power for pharmacists comes as welcome news.
"Pharmacy students nowadays are graduating with doctor of pharmacy degrees, so it does increase the scope of practice for pharmacists and does decrease the burden on primary care physians because they're already so overworked,” said Alixandra Logan, a PharmD candidate student.
Before Saturday, the cost of hormonal birth control varied from around $25 for a box of pills to a one-time cost of more than $400 for IUDs.
Nurse practitioner Sara Eftekhar points out that vasectomies have been free in B.C. for years.
“It's a huge, historic day and a huge, historic win for reproductive rights,” Eftakhar said.
Contraceptives can be prescribed for reasons other than pregnancy prevention.
"I've had patients with (polycystic ovary syndrome), acne, people who have really debilitating periods or I have a lot of patients who have menopausal systems who use the patch, but the patch is not covered so they're really upset about that,” she said.
Next, she’d like to see fee menstrual products offered throughout the province.
The new savings is part of the NDP government’s platform.
Opposition parties in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are also promising free contraceptives if they’re elected.
B.C. will spend $119 million over the next three years for the new program.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a speech to Ukraine's parliament, where he called the war-torn country's fight against Russia's invasion a battle 'for the future of us all.' This comes after Trudeau announced Canada will be spending $500 million to help Ukraine's military fight Russia's invasion.
Fires across the country are burning millions of hectares of land but what does that really look like? CTVNews.ca compared the blazes to some cities and lakes in the country showing just how big they have gotten.
Foreign interference special rapporteur David Johnston has resigned, CTV News has confirmed. In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Johnston cited the intense politicization of his appointment and work, as the reason for his coming departure.
Ahead of the release of her interim report on progress as Canada's special interlocutor on unmarked graves at former residential schools, Kimberly Murray says lawmakers at all levels of government shouldn’t be waiting for her findings to act.
A Ukrainian-Canadian teenager is on an emotional journey to capture the destruction of the Russian invasion, including of his childhood home, on camera.
A recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal Preventative Medicine Reports by a group of international researchers has found that post-secondary students with unhealthy eating habits can go on to suffer from disease and mental health issues for years to come.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump is facing 37 felony charges related to the mishandling of classified documents, according to an indictment unsealed Friday that alleges that he described a Pentagon 'plan of attack' and shared a classified map related to a military operation.
Showers are predicted Saturday over the aggressive wildfire threatening Tumbler Ridge, but forecasters say thunderstorms could sweep through the parched region without bringing any rain.
Wildfire officials are sending an additional 20 firefighters to help battle an out-of-control blaze that has burned more than two square kilometres of forest and cut off a major highway on Vancouver Island.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a speech to Ukraine's parliament, where he called the war-torn country's fight against Russia's invasion a battle 'for the future of us all.' This comes after Trudeau announced Canada will be spending $500 million to help Ukraine's military fight Russia's invasion.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a speech to Ukraine's parliament, where he called the war-torn country's fight against Russia's invasion a battle 'for the future of us all.' This comes after Trudeau announced Canada will be spending $500 million to help Ukraine's military fight Russia's invasion.
Ahead of the release of her interim report on progress as Canada's special interlocutor on unmarked graves at former residential schools, Kimberly Murray says lawmakers at all levels of government shouldn’t be waiting for her findings to act.
Toronto police have released images of a vehicle used by three suspects to flee the scene of a violent attack outside of a Scarborough mosque last month.
The next 48 hours will be crucial in Quebec's wildfire fight in northern and western parts of the province, with rain forecast for Monday but warmer, humid temperatures expected until then.
Three of the province's nine Cree communities are threatened by wildfires, including Waswanipi and Mistissini. But only Oujé-Bougoumou, about 500 kilometres north of Montreal, has been evacuated completely.
There is a divide at the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake that seems bound to complicate the process of cleaning up a toxic dump that has the potential to hurt the wider environment north of Montreal.
WINNIPEG -- Zach Collaros was glad Blue Bombers fans were able to cheer just as much at the end of the game as they did early on in Winnipeg's 42-31 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday.
The head of Saskatoon’s chamber of commerce responding with frustration to the city’s announcement of a $75 million deficit over the next two years — and the tax hikes that will likely be needed to help makeup some of the the shortfall.
A Ukrainian-Canadian teenager is on an emotional journey to capture the destruction of the Russian invasion, including of his childhood home, on camera.
Police say a woman in central Nova Scotia has been fined nearly $29,000 for having an unsupervised outdoor fire in the midst of a provincewide fire ban.
Nova Scotia says it has identified more details about the records stolen in a file transfer service cyber attack, impacting teachers, students and health care workers' records.
Police have reopened a section of Highway 401 westbound between Woodstock and Cambridge after a crash involving a transport truck and an Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) vehicle resulted in a closure closure.
The Waterloo Region Integrated Drug Strategy (WRIDS) is sounding the alarm after a significant number of drug overdose and poisonings were reported over the last few days.
