Santiago, Chile, Sep 14, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Chile has put a hold on the distribution of the morning after pill to minors aged 14-18 without a prescription and without parental consent after two legal challenges to the government’s decision to distribute the drug.
The two lawsuits, one filed by the mayor of the town of La Florida, Pablo Zalaquett, and the other by Juan Antonio Espina and Cristian Lagos, argue that the decision by the Chilean Ministry of Health jeopardizes the rights of parents to choose how their children will be educated, above all in affective and sexual matters.
The Court has given the Health Ministry five days to review its decision. After that it must present documents that support the distribution of the pill to minors.
Government spokesman Ricardo Lagos Weber said, “The government is within its right to defend this policy” and “we are going to defend it in the courts.”