Background

In 2015, mifepristone in combination with misoprostol, the international gold standard for medication abortion, was approved for use in Canada. By 2019, all Canadian provinces had included the medication as a publicly insured health benefit.

Methods

Our content analysis of Canadian newspaper coverage describes arguments in favor of or against medication abortion and the evolving regulatory framework for mifepristone from 6 months before regulatory approval until the last significant regulatory barrier to use was removed (2015–2019).

Results

Our study found an exceptionally high level of support for the approval of, introduction of, and removal of regulatory barriers to mifepristone for medication abortion. Of 402 pieces, 67% were pro-medication abortion, 25% presented balanced or neutral coverage, and only 8% presented solely anti-medication abortion viewpoints. Of the 761 individuals quoted, more than 90% made positive or neutral statements about medication abortion. Most pieces discussed medication abortion as a health issue and described how liberalization of the regulatory framework would improve abortion availability (68%), accessibility (87%), acceptability (34%), and quality (28%).

Conclusions

Rather than formal balance, which presents contrasting arguments as equally valid even when the scientific evidence for one vastly outweighs the other, our study identified evidentiary balance, in which coverage aligned with the weight of evidence and expert opinion. Our results differ from analyses in other high-income countries (United Kingdom, United States) where media outlets frame abortion in relation to morality or electoral politics rather than as a health issue. The Canadian print media presented overwhelmingly favorable arguments toward the expansion of mifepristone medication abortion and framed the introduction and universal coverage of medication abortion as advancing the “Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability, and Quality” (AAAQ) Right to Health Framework that establishes international human rights standards for health information, facilities, goods, and services.

中文翻译：

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加拿大报纸支持米非司酮药物流产以改善 AAAQ 健康权框架（2015-2019 年）的履行

背景

2015年，米非司酮与米索前列醇联合用药获准在加拿大使用，米索前列醇是药物流产的国际金标准。到 2019 年，加拿大所有省份都已将这种药物纳入公共保险健康福利。

方法

我们对加拿大报纸报道的内容分析描述了支持或反对药物流产的论点，以及从监管部门批准前 6 个月到消除最后一个重大使用监管障碍（2015-2019 年）期间米非司酮不断演变的监管框架。

结果

我们的研究发现，人们对米非司酮药物流产的批准、引入和消除监管障碍给予了极高的支持。在 402 篇文章中，67% 支持药物堕胎，25% 提出平衡或中立的报道，只有 8% 提出完全反对药物堕胎的观点。在所引用的 761 人中，超过 90% 的人对药物流产做出了积极或中立的陈述。大多数文章将药物堕胎视为一个健康问题，并描述了监管框架的自由化将如何提高堕胎的可用性（68%）、可及性（87%）、可接受性（34%）和质量（28%）。

结论

我们的研究不是采用正式的平衡，即即使一个观点的科学证据远远超过另一个，也将对比性的论点呈现为同样有效，而是采用了证据平衡，即覆盖范围与证据和专家意见的权重相一致。我们的结果与其他高收入国家（英国、美国）的分析不同，这些国家的媒体将堕胎视为与道德或选举政治有关，而不是作为健康问题。加拿大印刷媒体对扩大米非司酮药物堕胎提出了压倒性的有利论据，并将药物堕胎的引入和普遍覆盖视为推进建立国际人权的“可用性、可及性、可接受性和质量”（AAAQ）健康权框架健康信息、设施、商品和服务的标准。