Access to abortion will improve in New Brunswick in January and women’s advocates are calling it a victory, although they say it’s only a first step.

Last week, the New Brunswick government announced that it would be scrapping a section of a contentious regulation that has restricted access to abortion for decades.

The planned amendments mean women will no longer have to get the approval of two doctors before having an abortion.

The procedure will also no longer have to be done by a specialist, meaning access could become more timely as more doctors will be able to do it.

The changes will come into effect Jan. 1.

Jessi Taylor of Reproductive Justice New Brunswick is pleased the government is lifting barriers to abortion, but says more needs to be done.

“It brings us in line with what other provinces had during the 80s, it doesn't bring us in line with what they have now,” says Taylor.

She says the move is a result of decades of activism, but is hardly a light at the end of the tunnel.

“A light at the end of the tunnel is far easier to recognize so long as the momentum continues, but if this is just a way of not talking about the issue any longer, then that light is just as far away next week as it is right now,” she says.

Joanne Wright is the coordinator of gender and women’s studies at the University of New Brunswick. She says the province should consider clinics over hospitals, for more than just their cost-effectiveness.

“The clinic environment is deemed by many to be superior because it's addressing women, specifically, on their terms and it's not, sort of, that busy environment of the hospital, where there is very little privacy,” says Wright.

Green Party Leader David Coon says the forthcoming changes need to be backed up.

“We should be, in the next budget, increasing resources for sexual health centres, so that they can expand their mandate to focus more on prevention,” says Coon.

Despite the changes, abortion rights supporters plan to rally when the New Brunswick legislature opens Wednesday.

They say it will be in part a thank you, and in part a way to say there is still more to be done.

Meanwhile, anti-abortion activists say their fight will continue.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell