A Montreal woman says she was denied access to a late-term abortion by the MUHC — despite the law being on her side.
The woman was 30 weeks pregnant when she says she found out there were abnormalities with her fetus.
According to Le Devoir, the unnamed woman did not want her child to suffer and sought an abortion.
The MUHC says it refused to perform the procedure, citing guidelines from the Quebec College of Physicians, which state that after 23 weeks, an abortion should only be given under exceptional circumstances, or for serious congenital abnormalities.
But her lawyer, Jean-Pierre Menard, says the law is clear — the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1988 that a woman has a right to an abortion at any stage, and for any reason.
"Those guidelines are denying some very fundamental rights basic rights of the woman, as a woman, and as a patient," he says. "This is a decision that has to be taken by a woman, with the advice of her doctor. That's all and that's enough."
That means the College of Physicians' guidelines are decades behind Canadian law.
"They are not at all in accordance with the state of the law in Canada. Those guidelines are denying some very fundamental, basic rights of the woman as a woman and as a patient."
But Secretary of Quebec's College of Physicians Yves Robert says the college's guidelines only offer advice about third trimester abortions, pointing out that they are not rules which any doctor in Quebec must follow.
"We were only saying that it was rare, and that it can be considered in some situations."
Robert says the MUHC's apparent decision to consult medical professionals beyond the woman's doctor was unusual.
"It's realized on the judgment of the physician, and the woman. and not by a third party. What is surprising is the process that was used by the MUHC, asking for an opinion from a third party."
Menard says any sort of decision around an abortion should be unambiguous for both doctor and patient.
"A woman has a full right to terminate her pregnancy for good reasons, bad reasons, or any reason. Nobody has to assess the merit of her grounds."
Robert explains that while individual doctors are allowed to object to performing a procedure such as a late-term abortion, they are obliged to forward the patient to somebody who can do it.
The MUHC refused to perform the procedure without a court order - a possibly lengthy process.
That meant the woman had to get the procedure from another provider after 35 weeks.