"They made me go through like weeks of appointments and everything": Documenting women's experiences seeking abortion care in Yukon territory, Canada.

BACKGROUND: Abortion has been legal without restriction in Canada since 1988 and is recognized as a medically necessary service. However, research indicates that women still face numerous barriers to accessing care, challenges that are amplified for women living in rural, remote and northern regions in Canada.

OBJECTIVES: This qualitative study aimed to document women's experiences seeking and obtaining abortion services while residing in Yukon Territory, identify financial and personal costs and explore avenues through which services could be improved.

METHODS: We conducted 16 in-depth semi-structured phone interviews with women who accessed abortion services on/after January 1, 2005, while residing in the Yukon. We employed an iterative multiphase analytic approach centering on content and themes, using both inductive and deductive techniques.

RESULTS: With the Yukon's sole facility offering first trimester abortions twice a month, women experienced difficulty navigating a fragmented process and long wait times. Women found the process of attending multiple pre-procedure appointments at multiple locations with multiple health care providers, all while enduring pregnancy symptoms and handling other life commitments, physically, financially and emotionally taxing.

CONCLUSION: Efforts to streamline the process of obtaining an abortion and providing women with more information at the first point of contact would improve service access and quality. Mifepristone has the potential to improve access for rural and remote populations, reduce wait times and alleviate privacy concerns, but only if the medication abortion regimen is affordable and available at a range of service delivery points and provision requirements are aligned with the global evidence.

IMPLICATIONS: By documenting women's experiences, the identified barriers and outlined suggestions for improvement offer realistic avenues through which current abortion services in Yukon Territory can be modified in order to increase access. This study highlights future reproductive health care initiatives that warrant prioritization in Canada's North.