Fort MacMurray residents soon find that abortion services are nonexistent in the area, forcing many women to travel hundreds of kilometers, face additional expenses, and undergo a lot of stress and emotional upheaval in order to access these services elsewhere. Fort MacMurray is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, and the lack of abortion services in the area is well known yet no one is doing anything to resolve this problem. Abortion is one of the most commonly used reproductive health services, yet for women in the Fort MacMurray area there is nowhere to turn and the woman must travel quite a distance to get access. This is not a problem unique to Wood Buffalo either, research shows that many Canadian women who live in boom towns and rural areas also lack this basic service which is usually widely available in urban areas.

Late term abortion services may be provided by the local hospital in Fort MacMurray, but only when the health or life of the mother is at risk and this is a rare occurrence that only occurs if a life threatening emergency comes up. According to one source “You basically have young women in Fort McMurray who have choice dependent on whether or not they can take time off work and find the money to go down to Edmonton or Calgary. You’re essentially privatizing the service for rural women.” In the past the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre did consider abortion services in Fort MacMurray, however around 90% of the residents opposed this and wrote comments to the medical facility so that abortion services were not provided.