Politics
Wednesday January 31, 2007
Chilean President Signs Decree to Permit Hand-Out of Morning After Pill to Young Girls
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Gudrun Schultz
SANTIAGO, Chile, January 31, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Following through on her threat earlier this month, Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet signed a decree Monday authorizing the distribution of abortifacient emergency contraception to girls as young as 14 without their parents’ consent, the latest move in a drawn-out battle over efforts to legalize the drug in the country.
Distribution of the drug was halted earlier this month when the Constitutional Court ruled that the Health Minister did not have the power to authorize handing out the drug to minors, after 32 legislators petitioned the court to rule on the issue, backed by Catholic Church leaders.
The lawmakers argued that the drug violates the country’s anti-abortion laws by causing early abortions when taken after fertilization of the egg has occurred. They also argued that giving the drug to minor girls without their parents knowledge was a violation of parental rights.
In ruling on the issue, the court avoided the question of abortion and parental rights by addressing the technicality of the executive’s lack of legitimate authority in permitting the drug’s distribution.
Jorge Reyes, attorney for the legislators opposing the drug, said a presidential decree would not end the matter, at the time of the Court ruling earlier this month, saying if a decree was issued, “We will go back to the court to object to other aspects of the program that we consider unconstitutional.”
The decree includes an amendment that requires teenagers to receive counseling when they obtain the pill.
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Chilean Constitutional Court Decree Halts Distribution of Abortifacient Plan B
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/07011503.html
Chilean Court Reverses Its Decision and Allows Abortifacient ‘Morning After Pill’
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06092605.html"http://www.lifesiten...
Chile Court Suspends Gov’t Plan to Distribute Free Morning-After Pill
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06091505.html"http://www.lifesiten...
Chile’s Mayors Refuse Morning After Pill Push
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06090606.html"http://www.lifesiten...
Chilean Supreme Court Orders Sale of Abortifacient Morning-After Pill
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05120202.html"http://www.lifesiten...
Chilean Health Ministry Defies Supreme Court By Allowing Abortifacient Pills
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/sep/01090603.html"http://www.lifesiten...
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.