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How did New Brunswick get a crowd-funded abortion clinic?

After the province's only private abortion clinic closed last July, a group raised over $100,000 online to open a new one. Here, a brief timeline of the campaign
By Danielle Groen
Clinic 554 in New Brunswick, Canada. Photo, courtesy of Clinic 554. Photo, courtesy of Clinic 554.

April 10, 2014: The Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton announces it will close after 20 years of providing abortion services to more than 10,000 women.

July 4, 2014: A group called Reproductive Justice New Brunswick (RJNB) launches a crowd-funding campaign through FundRazr to raise $100,000 to lease the clinic.

July 18, 2014: The clinic closes. RJNB enters negotiations with the owner of the building, having raised $114,131 from 1,337 contributors in two weeks.

September 25, 2014: RJNB ends its crowd-funding campaign after raising $131,366 from 1,506 contributors.

January 16, 2015: RJNB and the Fredericton Youth Feminists announce the opening of Clinic 554 in the Morgentaler Clinic's old location. It will accept 600 patients from the province (as well as underserved people and those needing specialized care) and provide a variety of publicly funded health services, including contraception, cancer screening, prenatal care and surgical abortions up to 16 weeks.

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