Access to Abortion for Undocumented Persons during the COVID-19 Pandemic activists were concerned about access to abortion beyond the first trimester as it often requires further travel for anyone residing outside of urban centres where abortion care is available. For example, bus routes were cancelled, flights cancelled and provinces closed their borders. Further, traditionally Action Canada assists persons in finding care outside of Canada, most notably in the United States, where care is not available in Canada. While not everyone is impacted to the same degree, depending on their social, financial and geographic positioning, these barriers were experienced disproportionately by those with precarious immigration status. For stateless and migrant persons with precarious status, accessing alternative care across the border was not a viable option. A significant percentage of those supported more fulsomely by Action Canada are individuals requiring abortion care beyond what is available in Canada. This currently requires travel to the United States, although it is an insured service in Canada. This means we really get to know the needs and barriers faced by people who need those services. Prior to the pandemic, Action Canada and NAF Canada used its funds to support access in Canada by paying procedure fees and creating partnerships with a network of health care providers who were willing and able to see undocumented patients who needed abortions. Since the pandemic, of those who ended up unable to access abortion at all, the majority were undocumented individuals. While most Canadian citizens who saw doors close in front of them had the option of travelling to the United States, despite the difficulty of such a journey, undocumented and uninsured individuals faced the harshest challenges in accessing health care during this pandemic. For those who could access care, their ability to pay their procedure fees depended on the joint capacity of two non-profit organisations with donation-based funds. The fact that so many individuals in Canada depend on charities to access abortion care, which is deemed essential under the Canada Health Act, underlines the inadequacy of existing government programs and a failure to comply with international human rights law. 2 Across populations, the main barrier to abortion care is financial as people have to pay for travel and accommodations to access a point of service or because they have to pay procedure fees out of pocket. With this in mind, it is important to note that, while many people in Canada lost their income during the pandemic, the majority, including some non-citizens, would have been able to access Canada’s recovery benefits such as the Canada Recovery Benefit, which could mitigate such a barrier. 3 That said, people without a Social Insurance Number were denied financial aid at a time when businesses shut down, jobs disappeared and entire sectors of the economy slowed down, leaving many without any financial resources. 4 Job sectors that disproportionately employ migrant workers and those with tenuous immigration status, including accommodation, caregiving, food service and retail, were among the hardest hit by the pandemic. 5 One solution to the inability to or the delay in accessing abortion care is medication abortion. In July 2015, Health Canada approved the abortion pill Mifegymiso, the World Health Organization’s gold standard for medication 2 3 4 5 Canada Health Act, RSC 1985 c C-6, s 9. ‘Canada Recovery Benefit’, Government of Canada (Web Page, 15 April 2021) <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/recovery-benefit/crb-whoapply.html>. ibid. ‘COVID-19 in Canada: A Six-month Update on Social and Economic Impacts’, Statistics Canada (Web Page, 20 October 2020) <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/11631-x2020003-eng.htm>. 143