Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2025 May;20(3):23-26.
doi: 10.12927/hcpol.2025.27600.

Commentary: Adolescents, Marginalization(s) and Abortion Care in Canada

Affiliations
Editorial

Commentary: Adolescents, Marginalization(s) and Abortion Care in Canada

Tobin Leblanc Haley et al. Healthc Policy. 2025 May.

Abstract

Abortion access in Canada has improved in the past 37 years. However, as healthcare delivery is primarily a provincial/territorial responsibility, there are divergences in the administration and operation of abortion care, including coverage in rural areas, access to telemedicine for medication abortion and the laws and policies governing medical consent for minors. In addition, the access and experience of care are often conditioned by raced, classed and gendered inequalities. When considering abortion care in Canada, it is vital to consider the complexities of federalism, the realities of rural and semi-rural life and intersecting forms of marginalization impacting service users, especially adolescents.

L'accès à l'avortement au Canada s'est amélioré au cours des 37 dernières années. Cependant, puisque la prestation des soins de santé relève principalement de compétences provinciales ou territoriales, il y a des divergences en matière d'administration et de fonctionnement des services d'avortement, notamment la disponibilité en milieu rural, l'accès à la télémédecine pour l'avortement médicamenteux ainsi que les lois et politiques au sujet du consentement aux soins des mineurs. De plus, l'accès et l'expérience des soins sont souvent conditionnés par les inégalités de races, de classes et de genre. Lorsqu'on examine les services d'avortement au Canada, il est essentiel de tenir compte des complexités du fédéralisme, des réalités de la vie rurale et semi-rurale ainsi que des formes croisées de marginalisation qui touchent les utilisatrices des services, en particulier les adolescentes.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Abortion Access Tracker. n.d. In Canada, Abortion Has Been Decriminalized Since 1988. Retrieved April 25, 2025. <https://www.abortionaccesstracker.ca/>.
    1. Budd B. 2021. Maple-Glazed Populism: Political Opportunity Structures and Right-Wing Populist Ideology in Canada. Journal of Canadian Studies 55(1): 152–76. doi:10.3138/jcs.2019-0046.
    1. Carson A., Paynter M., Norman W.V., Munro S., Roussel J., Dunn S. et al. 2022. Optimizing the Nursing Role in Abortion Care: Considerations for Health Equity. Canadian Journal of Nursing Leadership 35(1): 54–68. doi:10.12927/cjnl.2022.26750. - PubMed
    1. Cattapan A., Hammond K., McGrath E. 2025. Adolescent Access to Abortion Care in Canada: Age, Capacity and Parental Consent. Healthcare Policy 20(3). doi:10.12927/hcpol.2025.27474. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Garney W., Wilson K., Ajayi K.V., Panjwani S., Love S.M., Flores S. et al. 2021. Social-Ecological Barriers to Access to Healthcare for Adolescents: A Scoping Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18(8): 4138. doi:10.3390/ijerph18084138. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources