Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I don't know if the Minister has had a chance, but he probably knows this information anyway and maybe Mr. Murray as well, but the abortion rates are the highest in Canada in the Northwest Territories and this causes me some concern because Yellowknife is the only place in the Northwest Territories where women can get an abortion. I would hate to think that some women may be using abortion as a form of birth control and when you get up to the five, six and seven abortions, then you have to start to wonder if that's the case. It's costing the people that live here in the Northwest Territories and the Government of the Northwest Territories a tremendous amount of money to bring people into Yellowknife to have this abortion take place. I wanted to ask the Minister what our plans are in trying to address why the abortion rates in the Northwest Territories are the highest in the country. We're 25 percent higher than even the next closest jurisdiction in terms of abortion rates. It causes me some concern because maybe we're not doing enough in terms of educating our young people about birth control and safe sex and the like, and the cost of maybe not doing this type of education is having on our health care system. It's obvious that it is having an impact on our health care system because the costs are there and it can be substantiated. So I'd like to hear from the Minister what his plans are to address these abortion rates and what steps we're going to take to try to address this. Thank you.
David Ramsay on Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
In the Legislative Assembly on February 18th, 2005. See this statement in context.
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
February 17th, 2005
Page 1379
See context to find out what was said next.