Santiago, Chile, Apr 13, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Despite a Chilean Supreme Court ruling that “the morning after pill” is abortifacient, the country’s Health Ministry announced it will distribute 400,000 dosages of the pill to clinics to be offered to victims of rape.
Jorge Reyes, a Chilean lawyer who lead the movement against the “morning after pill,” warned that the policy violates the Supreme Court’s decision and that the action amounts to a legal “ploy” in order to prescribe the controversial drug.
According to Reyes, the action betrays the incoherence of the government, because while the government “has eliminated the death penalty for rapists, it condemns the unborn to death.”
Patricio Ventura, Director of the Bioethics Center of the Catholic University, told local media that it is urgent that women be informed about the abortifacient nature of the pill, since “scientific proof has not confirmed that the drug does not affect implantation (of the embryo in the uterus.)”
In fact, the Health Ministry is promoting the drug by claiming it prevents fertilization but it does not mention that if it is taken after fertilization, it causes an abortion.
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