QUITO, November 29 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health has ordered the removal of abortifacient “morning-after” pills off pharmacy shelves on the grounds of a “prescribed fault” in its pricing. The decision comes while pro-lifers in the tiny South American country, work to have the pill banned completely. Director of Health of the coastal province of the Guayas, Robert Blum, said that the pill sold under the brand name, Prostinor 2, “does not have authorization to be sold.” On November 15, the physicians association of Ecuador joined in the Ecuadorian Catholic Bishops’ conference efforts to have the pill banned completely because of its abortifacient effect. Luis Sanchez, President of the Medical Federation of Ecuador said, “The morning after pill cannot be classified as a contraceptive method because by its very nature it acts against something that has already been conceived.” Bishop Antonio Arregui, Vice President of the Bishops Conference of Ecuador, said, “What is being sought here by the sale of these products is the introduction into Ecuadorian society of a certain insensitivity to what amounts to an attack on human life.” Planned Parenthood International has worked to insinuate the contraceptive mentality into Ecuador through its affiliate, Asociación Pro-Bienestar de la Familia Ecuatoriana, which works primarily through 150 annual ‘sex education’ workshops for adolescents. Ecuador is 91.53% Catholic and still retains a 3.6% fertility rate.
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