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(Winnipeg) The thorny question of who should pay for abortions when the wait for publicly funded procedures is too long landed back in Manitoba after the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the case on Thursday.

As is customary, the high court did not offer a reason for its decision not to grant a leave to appeal filed by two Manitoba women who had to pay for abortions at a private clinic.

The women started a class action lawsuit against the provincial NDP government in 2001, arguing they had no choice but to pay for privately funded abortions because the wait for a hospital procedure was as much as eight weeks.

A Court of Queen's Bench justice ruled in December 2004 that the government should fund abortions at private clinics.

However, the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned that decision last September, prompting the women to go to the Supreme Court in a bid to have the original ruling reinstated.

But the high court's refusal to hear the case means the issue can only be decided by a trial.

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