The New Brunswick Human Rights Commission will hold an investigation into the province's controversial abortion policy.

The commission confirmed Tuesday that a complaint was filed recently alleging the province's Medical Services Payment Act "discriminates on the basis of sex in relation to abortion."

The commission has referred the complaint to its tribunal arm, which will hold hearings into the matter. A date for the hearings has not been set, but the commission said they might be held behind closed doors for security reasons.

The provincial Department of Health's policy allows public funds to pay for abortions only if the procedure is approved by two physicians and performed in hospitals.

A separate legal battle on the policy has been before the courts for several years.

Dr. Henry Morgentaler is in the process of suing the New Brunswick government over its abortion policy. Morgentaler wants medicare to pay for abortions at his Fredericton clinic.

Currently, women pay the $750 fee at Morgentaler's clinic themselves.

Morgentaler won a New Brunswick Court of Appeal decision in 2009 after the provincial government challenged whether he could personally launch the lawsuit.

The provincial government argued a woman who tried to access an abortion should bring forward the lawsuit. However, the province's top court shot down that argument.

"Dr. Morgentaler brings to the judicial arena financial resources and legal expertise which will undoubtedly help level the playing field and greatly improves the chances that any judicial decision on the merits is fully informed both factually and legally," the Court of Appeal ruled in 2009.

Morgentaler originally launched his lawsuit to get the New Brunswick government to pay for abortions at his private clinic in 2002.

"I accuse the government of New Brunswick of being sexist, male chauvinist, of victimizing and oppressing women," Morgentaler said in 2002 when he announced his lawsuit.