This World Contraception Day Wellness Within Repeats Call for Free Contraception
In advance of World Contraception Day, Wellness Within and fellow advocates at Access Now Nova Scotia, a coalition for free contraception, repeat the call for Nova Scotia to implement universal no-cost contraception coverage. It has been nearly a year since Bill C-64, An Act respecting pharmacare, received royal assent and a year since intimate partner violence was declared an epidemic in Nova Scotia. A panel of experts appeared before the NS Legislative Standing Committee on Health on June 10, 2025, to advocate for barrier free access to contraception and PrEP. However, we have yet to see action being taken to implement no-cost contraception in our province. Join us outside the NS Legislature today, Thursday September 25, 2025 at 12pm to have your voice heard.
Programs providing free prescription contraception are compassionate, evidence-based, equitable, and revenue positive! Investing in contraceptives is considerably cheaper than the costs associated with unplanned pregnancy. While advocates once pushed for Nova Scotia to be leaders in implementing this policy, now they are simply asking that Nova Scotians no longer be left behind. With other provinces and territories (British Columbia, Manitoba, Prince Edward, and Yukon) securing this life-changing coverage for their residents — your access to Pharmacare should not depend on your postal code.
Cost is a significant barrier to people accessing prescription birth control, and these costs fall disproportionately on women and persons of all genders at risk of unintended pregnancy. Although contraceptive options are covered through community pharmacare and some drug plans there are many people who fall through the cracks created by this system. People in low paying, part-time, and contract jobs often do not have employer-based health plans. As many as 20% of Nova Scotians have inadequate or no prescription drug coverage.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a form of gender-based violence and is an epidemic in Nova Scotia. Women in Canada who face intimate-partner violence are two times as likely to experience an unintended pregnancy, with 1 in 4 Canadian women self-reporting not being able to freely make their own reproductive choices.
Reproductive coercion is a form of GBV, occurring most often in intimate relationships. The Canadian Women’s Foundation defines reproductive coercion as “any time someone pressures or controls another person’s reproductive decisions or takes steps that make it harder for that person to freely exercise their reproductive choice(s)”. People with uteruses are most often the victims/survivors of reproductive coercion. Control over exercising one’s reproductive rights closely intersects with the gendered burden of contraception costs.
It is imperative that the Nova Scotia Government take decisive action to implement this benefit without further delay. Whether that be through the Pharmacare deal offered by the Federal Government or a province-led policy, Nova Scotians need and deserve free access to this life-changing medicine.
Natasha Hines (she/her), Founding Member of Access Now NS and Chair of Wellness Within, (902)717-2956 or natasha_hines@outlook.com,