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Rose Gervais was about 12 weeks pregnant with her third child in 2023 when she was told the fetus didn’t have a brain and the pregnancy was no longer viable.
It was clear the mother from Gaspé, Que., would need to travel for an abortion since she passed the 12-week mark. It was too late to get a surgical abortion in town and it was unsuitable for her to opt for a medical abortion by taking a pill.
Gervais and her partner had their sights set on getting the surgical procedure done as soon as possible at the closest facility in Quebec City — where they could also be seen by a geneticist, since they both wanted a third child.
“The delays were really too long,” said Gervais.
“I was still dealing with nausea and fatigue since the baby’s heart was still beating. So, I had all the symptoms of a normal pregnancy continuing.”
At that point, due to the delay in Quebec City, she decided to forgo the genetic testing and travel with her partner to Montreal for the procedure instead.
She took time off work, her mom came to stay with her two young children and her partner booked his airfare — out of their own pocket — to support her.
“It was a lot to manage, all the while we’re dealing with perinatal grief,” said Gervais, who has since welcomed another baby.
“These are major ordeals, and we’re often left quite alone in them. So, it’s important to bring this to light as well, to raise awareness.”
Experts and doctors say her experience speaks to a larger issue that continues to be an urgent problem in the province.
Quebec City is often the closest point of service for regional patients entering their second trimester — past the 12 or 13-week period — who need a surgical abortion.
But delays in getting appointments combined with limited capacity, means some patients are having to seek help even farther, in Montreal.
Quebec is considered as having some of the best access to abortion in Canada. But some say barriers for surgical abortions remain, including access far from major cities.
Doctor told hospital ‘cannot support more’
Dr. Mathieu Bélanger works at the Saint-François d’Assise Hospital — the only place offering surgical abortions in Quebec City for patients farther along in pregnancy.
He is among the advocates trying to streamline access and highlight the gaps in service in the province, including proposing flexible appointment schedules to prevent patients from having to show up for multiple appointments over various days.
“It’s extremely disappointing for any kind of health-care provider to not be able to give care to someone because the structure behind [them] does not support you well enough,” said Bélanger.
“We hear that women try to call … they are giving appointments that are too far away for them.”
Bélanger, who’s from Bellechasse, Que., — located across the river from Quebec City — knew there were problems in the province’s capital after he returned from working in Montreal for a year.
In that time, he routinely saw patients who travelled from Quebec City, or farther, for abortions. They told him Quebec City’s hospital didn’t answer their calls.
It didn’t sit well with him.
He says the Quebec City hospital doesn’t have a sense of the wait times for abortions and there’s a lack of knowledge about how many phone calls and requests come in but go unanswered at reception.
“They don’t know the situation or they don’t want to know the situation,” he said.
Bélanger wanted to know why, but says he wasn’t given a clear answer by his hospital.
“I received some answers like we don’t have enough beds …. We cannot hire more people,” he said.
“So the answer is always, ‘No, it’s not because of us. It’s because of the structure. We cannot give more. We cannot support more.’”
In an emailed statement to CBC News, the CHU de Québec-Université Laval hospital network, which oversees the Saint-François d’Assise Hospital, says it offers around 50 pre-consultation slots per week and between 28 and 32 intervention slots for surgical abortions depending on availability.
Additional slots could be added depending on the demand, wrote a spokesperson for the hospital network.
As of April 1, 2026, the wait to have a pre-consultation appointment at the hospital was about three business days and then an additional two to three business days for a surgical abortion service, depending on the number of weeks of pregnancy.
The hospital did not offer reaction in response to Gervais’s story, nor respond when asked if more hospitals should offer surgical abortions in Quebec City.
Access issue ‘makes no sense’
Quebec City has become notorious for having a fairly long waiting period and delays in getting appointments for abortions, says Dr. Geneviève Bois, a family doctor who performs procedural and medical abortions in Montreal.
Just like Bélanger’s experience, Bois says there are days she looks down at a list of patients’ postal codes to find that nobody actually lives on the island of Montreal.
While Quebec has what Bois calls “excellent abortion access in general,” there are still a lot of issues within the province.
“It can’t be like, ‘Oh you can get a medical abortion super easily tomorrow and a surgical abortion will be like 300 kilometres away in 12 weeks,’” said Bois.
“That makes no sense.”
Bois says there needs to be a better system to ensure a minimal level of service.
She has stepped in to fill in for providers during sick leave, vacation or parental leave across the province, but says that’s an informal system and requires flexibility. She’s among those advocating in the field for minimal norms that can guarantee Quebecers an appointment within a certain number of days in each region.
“Because right now there’s no minimum standard,” said Bois.
“It’s easy to say that Quebec is the most pro-choice jurisdiction in the world, and that’s true and access is much better than many places, but it’s definitely not a resolved issue.”
Access to abortion pill vs. surgery
The barriers faced by women like Gervais are disheartening, says Sylvie Pedneault, general manager of SOS Grossesse in Quebec City, a community organization offering a variety of services, including access to medical abortions.
As of 2024, the Quebec government issued an action plan for abortion access and committed to sustainable funding increases for pro-choice groups, including SOS Grossesse.
Each month, the organization has an average of 52 appointments.
But Pedneault says more service points are needed in the provincial capital for surgical abortions, considering the number of cases it covers from neighbouring territories.
“We find it appalling that access can’t be simplified,” said Pedneault.
“Some people want to put an end to pregnancy through medication, but the wait means they won’t have access and they’ll have to do it surgically.”
Jess Legault says advocates’ concern is having the government increase investments and resources for medical abortions — the pill — which are much less expensive on the health-care system while there continue to be gaps in the professionals and medical spaces needed to perform surgical abortions.
The general co-ordinator of the Quebec family planning group, Legault says the expansion of the abortion pill should not come at the cost of procedural abortion access.
“That’s the sort of red flag that we’ve been waving,” she said.
“Our concern is that the government will look at the checks and balances and say, ‘Oh well, one method is much less expensive. We’re going to push that method.’”
In an emailed statement, a representative for Quebec’s Health Ministry called access to an abortion a “priority” and said the ministry is committed to ensuring anyone seeking one will have access as quickly as possible.
But it says “efforts must continue.”
It referenced its 2024-27 action plan on abortion access that supports the operation of health centres and the development of new service points.
Still, years after Gervais’s experience in 2023, she says it saddens her to hear that access to abortions can still be difficult — especially for women in Quebec’s regions.
She remembers the pain of having to put an end to her pregnancy and the heartache and fatigue in doing it far from home.
“These are major ordeals, and we’re often left to face them all alone,” she said.
“Add all the administrative management and the financial stress. It’s not normal to have to go through a grieving process while dealing with all of this.”
