Santiago, Chile, Mar 20, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The Grünenthal laboratory, which manufactures the morning-after pill in Chile, has decided to pull the drug from the market because of poor sales and the constant legal challenges being made by pro-life groups who denounce the drug’s abortifacient nature.
Pro-life leaders, represented by Fernanda Otero, applauded the decision, saying it “proves that [the drug] induces an abortion.” “Life must always be protected,” she said, adding she was sure the drug was going to be pulled because nobody can guarantee that it “does not kill the unborn.”
On the other side, Veronica Schiappacasse, a researcher at the Chilean Institute of Reproductive Medicine and a fervent supporter of the drug, said the decision by Grünenthal was “troubling and understandable.” “I suppose they had no intention of continuing to manufacture it as it was not good business.”
Schiappacasse said she would now look to the new government led by President Michelle Bachelet “to create policies in favor of women’s rights and not be pressured by minority groups that want to control the rights of Chileans.”