Despite Canada’s global leadership in reproductive rights, there remain significant barriers to accessing comprehensive abortion care due to inequitably distributed services, prohibitive costs due to loss of employment and travel, and lack of knowledge among providers and those seeking abortion services.

With the vast majority of abortion care involving a surgical procedure, comprehensive abortion services are concentrated in large cities along the southern border of Canada. The recent introduction of mifepristone (the gold standard in medication abortion) following Health Canada approval in 2015 and commercial availability in 2017 has transformed the Canadian abortion care landscape. This oral regimen offers the opportunity to improve the geographical inequities described in the literature when examining access to abortion services.

This qualitative study aims to provide insight into the experiences of those travelling to Winnipeg for both surgical and medical abortion care. We hypothesize that experiences of people travelling to Winnipeg for abortion care will similarly reflect logistical, emotional, and financial barriers associated with travelling for abortion care. Using Critical and Feminist lenses, we will conduct semi-structured interviews to achieve the following objectives:

1. To explore the experiences of those travelling at least one hour by road or any travel-time by flight to Winnipeg for induced abortion services.
2. To understand the process behind the choice of abortion method in those travelling at least one hour by road or by flight to Winnipeg for induced abortion services.
3. To investigate perceptions and attitudes towards surgical and medical abortion among those travelling at least one hour by road or by flight to Winnipeg for induced abortion services.
4. To provide insights into facilitators and barriers to accessing abortion services in those travelling at least one hour by road or any time by flight to Winnipeg for induced abortion, potentially identifying areas for improvement in abortion health policy and abortion service delivery.

This study will add unique insight to the young knowledge base in Canada of experiences in those needing to travel for their abortion care. Our results will have the potential to improve abortion services in rural and remote areas, improve our understanding of travel experiences for abortion care when necessary, and bolster provider knowledge in ways to better serve this particular population in the outlined circumstances.