A Montreal hospital had to call the police last month following receiving several calls from anti-choice activists, some of them aggressive, regarding a woman who was regarding to have a late-term abortion.
On February 1, confidential information regarding a 38-week-pregnant woman regarding to have an abortion at Sacred Heart Hospital leaked on social media.
The anti-choice group Campagne Québec-Vie (CQV) also sent an email to its members asking them to “pray” that this abortion does not take place, confirmed President Georges Buscemi.
In the evening, several calls were received at the hospital. According to our sources, people phoned to find out the name of the patient, others said they wanted to adopt the child. Some were aggressive. Mr. Buscemi, he says he is not aware.
Abortion is legal in Canada until the very end of pregnancy. In Quebec, regarding twenty women have an abortion in the third trimester each year, that is following 23 weeks.
These stories are human dramas. All sorts of reasons lead patients to make this choice (diseases, drug addiction, violence, poverty, etc.).
On the evening of February 1, the head of security at the hospital even called the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), according to our information. Two officers showed up at the establishment, but the SPVM refused to detail the intervention.
Call to the hospital…
In an online video, a woman from the CQV group says she called the hospital around 6:30 p.m., and managed to speak to an employee of the obstetrics department, who confirmed the procedure to her.
“She told me that it was indeed sad and that the whole team was also sad regarding the situation, says Marie-Josée Rivest. I was sure she was going to end the call, but to my surprise she didn’t. »
Ms. Rivest also asked the employee to suggest that the mother opt for adoption, rather than abortion.
This testimony raises questions regarding the confidentiality of medical records. The management of the Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS) of Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal refused to say whether an internal investigation is underway on this subject.
“It is a clear breach of confidentiality, reacts Me Patrick Ménard Martin, specialist in health. It is the very safety of the patient and the team that is called into question. »
Intolerable
“We cannot tolerate this. The right to abortion is guaranteed, thunders Dr. Jean Guimond, who manages late abortions in Montreal. It’s that simple. »
The medical procedure took place the next day as planned, and went according to standards. Before the pandemic, Quebec sent pregnant women in the third trimester to the United States, since no Quebec doctor wanted to perform these abortions.
Since the closure of the American border in 2020, the service is offered in Quebec. In Montreal, a few hospitals perform these late abortions in a rotation system. In Quebec, a single hospital manages all cases in the eastern part of the province.
– With Frederique Giguère
