NDP MP pushing for free birth control for Canadians

After successfully campaigning for the removal of a federal tax from feminine hygiene products, Irene Mathyssen, London-Fanshawe MP, is lobbying to make birth control free in Canada.

The purpose, as described by the online petition, is to draw the House of Commons’ attention to the NDP’s Motion M-65 that appeals the federal government to work with the provinces to cover the full cost of prescribed contraceptives.

Mathyssen explained that because of the cost of contraception being so significant, young, economically disadvantaged, immigrants and some transgender women forego using birth control as a part of their plan to prevent pregnancy.

“About 15 per cent of Canadian women who do not wish to become pregnant have no access to any form of birth control and that puts them very much at risk in terms of their sexual health, their ability to make choices about their lives and what they want,” Mathyssen said.

Rachel Heide, a student in the fine arts program at Fanshawe, explained that it would be helpful for college students to make birth control free.

“Sometimes you can’t afford it. You may get a discount but you still have to pay for it so that you don’t get pregnant and have a baby in college, which is really important,” Heide said.

Mathyssen’s goal is to make sure that comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services are available to everyone so that women have the choice about their own fertility.

“It’s time, and we in this country have been talking about pharmacare and we’ve been talking about the importance of the health care system being available and accessible to everyone, and this fits in,” Mathyssen said.

Lauren Friesen, a student in the fine arts program at Fanshawe, said that it is not only an important issue for sexually active women who can’t afford to get pregnant, but also for other physiological reasons.

“It controls hormones; there are a lot of women who have painful cramps during periods so it helps regulate those. There are people who have periods that last over two weeks… It’s important for not just women but gender diverse people as well,” Friesen said.

Mathyssen explained that she believes the reason that it has taken so long for MPs to advocate for this issue is because a lot of politicians are men.

“They [men] don’t menstruate… this is an idea that has to come forward and as a member of the House of Commons, as a female member, I wanted to do this,” said Mathyssen.

Mathyssen hopes that free birth control will be incorporated into the next federal budget. It would require the government to incorporate it into budget making and consult with the provinces in order to make it affordable.

“It’s time that women had access to it and had access that wasn’t discriminatory in terms of their socio- economic situation, their age, whether or not they have insurance from their employers or from other services. It has to be universal,” Mathyssen said.

Mathyssen also explained that another advantage to the motion is that the government of Canada through Health Canada will have to collect qualitative and quantitative sexual health data. It will provide more insight into the larger population in regards to how many people get tested for sexually transmitted diseases, and how many have the option to seek counselling for the decision to have a child or have an abortion.

“We need to know all these things so this is an important piece of it and it adds to our understanding of sexual health and the more we know, the better we are,” Mathyssen said.

A petition has been made available by the NDP at irenemathyssen.ndp.ca/petitions for the PDF version and ndp.ca/birth-control as an e-petition that allows Canadians to sign and support the M-65 motion.

Mathyssen explained that the more support that is shown, the federal government will look at it more carefully and see that a significant number of Canadians wish to see the motion put into action.

“Have a look for it on my website or on the NDP website and let’s get going to make this a part of our healthcare policy in this country,” Mathyssen said.