Prince Edward Island In the early ’80s, the provincial government decided there would be no surgical abortion services in PEI: Those seeking an abortion would have to travel to Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. A legal challenge by Abortion Access Now PEI, supported by the Woman’s Legal Education and Action Fund, prompted the government to […]
Health
Posted inNews + Opinion
A moving target: What abortion access looks like in Nova Scotia
One of the biggest misconceptions about abortion, says Lianne Yoshida, a Nova Scotia physician and medical co-director of the Women’s Choice Clinic in Halifax, is that people think it’s a rare or unusual procedure. “It’s very common,” she says. In 2018, there were 1,690 reported abortions at the four Nova Scotia Health Authority sites offering […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
958 days without medical assistance in dying policy
It’s been 958 days since Bill C-14 passed federal legislation, yet Nova Scotia still lacks a program for medical assistance in dying—MAiD—as well as MAiD policy and regulation. Without policy, physicians and nurse practitioners have no way of governing MAiD, creating a series of loopholes and lack of general knowledge surrounding the subject. The Nova […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Waitlist, schmaitlist
Adam Barrett, 34, was brushing his teeth and scrolling through Facebook last week when he saw a post about Family Practice Associate’s clinic in the north end accepting new patients. After 40 minutes on hold and a couple of questions, he had a family doctor. Just like that. “It was just really dumb luck,” says […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Vaccinations a struggle without family doctor
When Jennifer Fox moved to Nova Scotia in 2015, she, like many other Nova Scotians, requested to be put on a waiting list for a family doctor. In the meantime, she got pregnant. “That actually was the only way I was able to get a family doctor, because in the hospital given that you have […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Misleading billboard fuels false information about abortion
A Dartmouth billboard reading ‘Canada has no abortion laws’ is turning heads and raising ire. The sign on Windmill Road is rented on a four-week contract and paid for by We Need A Law—a religious advocacy group based in Vancouver and Ottawa. Jennifer Taylor, a research lawyer with Stewart-McKelvey was “fired up and frustrated” when […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Sobeys pharmacist spied on, shared private medical records
A Sobeys pharmacist “snooped” on the confidential medical history of friends, family and coworkers over a two year period and the province failed to adequately look into the serious privacy breach. Those shocking details are contained in two new investigations released Wednesday by Nova Scotia’s Information and Privacy Commissioner. According to Catherine Tully’s office, from […]
Posted inArts + Music
Checked out: AIDS testing in Nova Scotia falls behind
Five years ago, the AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia launched a campaign called “Check Me Out” to encourage gay men in Nova Scotia to get tested for HIV and other STIs. The campaign ran for almost two years, and during that time the provincial department of health and wellness reported a significant rise in new […]
Posted inLifestyle
Under pressure: a chill smoke-up goes down a dark path
Remedy fits right in with the student vibes of the Quinpool area, constantly peppered with nervous young Dal dudes asking the budtenders, “What’s strongest” or “What do you like best?” I predict this “act cool” bro-stammer will elongate our cider-buying time at post-legalization NSLC checkouts, but the Remedy staff are a helpful and charismatic crew […]
Posted inLifestyle
Q&A: Coming out of the cannabis closet
WWhen she was 19, Annie MacEachern moved from Prince Edward Island to British Columbia, where—of course—she discovered the joys of cannabis. She remained a recreational weed user when she came back east to get her public relations degree at Mount Saint Vincent University, during work stints in the Alberta oil patch and through her eventual […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Protest potpourri scheduled for Province House
Nova Scotians are spoiled for choice when it comes to protesting their government. In what’s practically become an annual tradition, this week hundreds of people will once again gather outside Province House demanding change and voicing their opposition to a growing portfolio of disappointments. The Nova Scotians Rise Up event—scheduled for noon on the 27—will […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
I know what support feels like, and now I feel it slipping away
Can you imagine how it feels to be only 24 years old and you need to wear an adult diaper to catch the gushing blood dripping between your legs? Do you know how it feels to have cracked and bleeding nipples upon a rock hard chest, beneath a frantic newborn baby stuffed into a baby […]