The episode aired to a largely positive reception for its even-handed and direct portrayal of the abortion debate, and Angela Deiseach's performance as Erica was singled out for praise by some critics.

Several newspapers called Degrassi High "gutsy" in tackling the subject matter and not "copping out", and the episode generated commentary in the Canadian media.

Credited in order of original broadcast:[2] Prior to "A New Start", Degrassi's writers had been reluctant to deal with abortion due to the polarisation surrounding it.

[3] An episode on abortion had been considered as early as Christine "Spike" Nelson's pregnancy in Degrassi Junior High,[4] but head writer Yan Moore feared the reaction to such a storyline and felt that "there was no way we could possibly do it".

[3][4] Schuyler felt it was appropriate to deal with abortion at the beginning of the season as they could explore the effects of the situation throughout the subsequent episodes; in 1989, she told the Toronto Star; "The issue is not over with in this show.

"[4] During the pre-production acting workshops, held before the filming of each season, the actors were instructed to read, with conviction, monologues espousing views on both sides of the abortion debate.

[5] "A New Start" premiered in its hour-long form on CBC Television in Canada at 8:30pm, the same time slot as its predecessor, on 6 November 1989,[8] pre-empting the American sitcom Designing Women.

[15] Writing for The Toronto Star, Antonia Zerbisias acclaimed the episode, asserting that it was "a gutsy show, particularly in the light of the current political and emotional climate [of the 1980s]", and singled out the exploration of both sides of the abortion topic.

"[16] Ian Warden of The Canberra Times particularly praised actress Angela Deiseach, who he felt "exquisitely and touchingly" portrayed Erica, and suggested that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation sell video tapes of the show in their stores, as "no high school, and perhaps no home with pubescent children rattling around it, should be without them".

[8] On November 11, 1989, Starweek (the entertainment section of the Toronto Star) ran a piece in which two individuals, one anti-abortion and one pro-choice, offered their opinion on the episode.

The anti-abortion viewer stated Degrassi High was "fundamentally dishonest" in its portrayal of abortion, and that Erica "has no choice at all since she is totally unwilling or unable to look her situation squarely in the face".

[17] Meanwhile, the pro-choice viewer felt the episode was Degrassi's best, "poignantly presented" the emotional decisions involved and did not simplify the complexities of abortion, and that by doing so, it "did a service to compassion and tolerance".

[18] Reader's Digest Canada's Brett Walther ranked the episode and its storyline on his list of "10 Times Degrassi High Was the Best Thing on Television".

[19] Like contemporary critics, Walther shared the sentiment that the abortion plotline was "sensitively and intelligently handled", and that the episode still felt "relevant more than three decades on".

"[19] "A New Start" was the subject of a minor spat between Degrassi High's producers and PBS when the episode made its United States debut on the network in January 1990.

The final scene, in which Erica and Heather are accosted by anti-abortion picketers as they make their way up to the clinic, was removed,[23][20] with the episode instead ending on a shot of the twins looking on before they do so.

Kate Taylor of WGBH, who was also involved in the series' production, stated that the choice to cut the scenes was an "esthetic decision",[21] that had been undertaken to create a "more powerful, more poignant" ending to the story.

[20] This change was condemned by director and series co-creator Kit Hood, who accused Kate Taylor of bringing a "personal bias" into the decision.

[14] Hood also remarked that they had given the episode "an American ending, happy, safe but incomplete..."[14] In protest, he requested his name be taken out of the credits of the PBS version.

[22] Edmonton Journal's Bob Remington defended PBS's decision, arguing that it did not avoid the issue "or take the easy way out" as had been insinuated, and that the producers were overreacting over something arguably minor.