Politics
Wednesday October 4, 2000
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PHILIPPINE BISHOPS VOW EXCOMMUNICATION FOR RU-486
Philippines May Legalize abortion pill
MANILLA, Oct 4 (LSN.ca) - The Philippines, the mostly Catholic country where protection for the unborn is enshrined in the constitution, may legalize the abortion drug RU-486. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports today that "Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez was quoted earlier as saying that RU-486 is not an abortive drug". The paper also states that "He was reported as saying that if the drug's manufacturer filed for registration with the Bureau of Food and Drugs, the application would be treated like any other and would not be blocked".
Apart from causing international embarrassment for the ignorance of his claim that the drug does not cause abortions, Romualdez has sparked massive reaction in the pro-life country. The Philippine Bishops Conference issued a statement noting that all those who take RU-486 are automatically excommunicated. Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops Conference corrected Romualdez, noting that RU-486 is not only an abortifacient (induces abortion), but is abortion itself. "Ipso facto excommunication. It does not have to be announced anymore. It is automatic," Quitorio said in a news briefing yesterday.
On Monday, Philippine Senate Majority Leader Francisco Tatad urged the Department of Health to ban RU-486. "RU-486 is the equivalent of a miniature chemical bomb detonated inside a mother's womb," he said. He told the Senate that the US FDA approval of the drug allows American women to wage chemical warfare against the unborn children "in the name of the so-called right to choose and the right to privacy." Romualdez, admitted to the press that the country's Department of Health had recently registered levonorgestrel, an abortifacient "morning after" pill.
See the Philippine Inquirer reports at:
http://www.inquirer.net/issues/oct2000/oct05/news/news_8.htm
http://www.inquirer.net/issues/oct2000/oct03/news/news_4.htm
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