The federal government tabled its Fall Economic Statement (FES) on December 16, providing an update on the country’s fiscal outlook and announcing investments in new policy measures. Following sustained advocacy from Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights and our partners across the country for greater integration of sexual health into the broader Canadian health infrastructure, we welcome the announcement contained within the FES on new funding investments on “Protecting Women’s Reproductive Health”.
What We’re Celebrating:
Action Canada is celebrating the proposal to provide $50 million over six years to the groundbreaking Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund, starting in 2024-2025, with $20 million ongoing, to Health Canada to expand and make permanent the Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Fund. This historic investment will extend the funding commitments made to the SRH Fund in the 2023 Federal Budget. Additionally, this will ensure the sustainability of the long-term integration of SRH within Health Canada. This is a major victory for people of all ages in Canada and sends an important message: sexual and reproductive health is a critical aspect of healthcare in Canada.
The SRH Fund has had an incredible impact on connecting people most likely to face barriers to sexual and reproductive health care to the services they need and has revealed an increasing unmet need for sexual and reproductive health care in Canada. Action Canada has consistently reported a steady increase in calls to our Access Line and demand for our Emergency Travel Fund for people needing travel support related to accessing abortion. This new investment will help sexual health organizations and providers avoid a funding cliff in 2027 that would disproportionately impact marginalized people already facing a lack of access to critical SRH care.
Scaling up funding to comprehensive sexual health services has positive impacts on the economy. The combined economic burden of outcomes that negatively impact sexual and reproductive health, including but not limited to sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancies, and sexual assault, likely exceeds $6 billion annually. During a time of economic challenges and lack of primary healthcare access for many people in Canada, this investment in the healthcare infrastructure will change lives and contribute to significant cost savings.
The investment will also enable the sustainable integration of sexual health into Health Canada over the long term and build institutional capacity to lead a whole-of-government approach to improving SRH. A permanent SRH team within the department has the potential to fund projects that are life-changing in the immediate term to meet the needs of marginalized people. In the long-term, this team can also support funding projects that are visionary, structural in nature, and address systemic barriers to accessing SRH including gender-affirming care and abortion.
As such, we are also celebrating the $7.5 million proposal to run new iterations of the sexual and reproductive health surveys within Statistics Canada. With a dedicated SRH team at Health Canada to be interlocutors with other departments, like Statistics Canada, data from these surveys will make way for improvements in sexual health policy and services in the long run. To enhance the evidence base for good sexual health policy, we’re also recommending further investments for the inclusion of a new survey exploring Canadian Abortion Services to inform where health providers are delivering abortion care and to show existing gaps in abortion access in Canada.
The investments announced in the FES 2024 are a testament to the power of advocacy! We look forward to engaging with governments and partners to leverage the commitments to champion human rights and ensure ongoing improvements to healthcare access for all.