Chile's Bachelet Defends Plan to Give Teens `Day After' Pill

[Judi Lynn]

Chile's Bachelet Defends Plan to Give Teens `Day After' Pill

By Heather Walsh

Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Chilean President Michelle Bachelet defended her government's decision to supply after-sex birth control pills to teenagers, a measure that has triggered opposition within her political coalition.

Bachelet, a pediatrician, said today the Sept. 2 decision by the Health Ministry will help reduce teenage pregnancy that especially affects the poor. Her comments were broadcast by state- run National Television from an interview with Radio W. The decision allow girls of 14 and older to receive the so-called ``day-after pill'' for free in public clinics without parental consent. The pill previously was made available only to rape victims in Chile, where abortion is illegal.

``Youth are starting to have sexual relations earlier,'' Bachelet said. ``They make decisions without having information, they get pregnant, some have abortions, and others have pregnancies that are unwanted with all the dramatic consequences that implies.''

Bachelet said that providing the pills for free will increase equality in Chile, where they already are available in pharmacies for those who can pay for it. Sales of the pill are higher in wealthy communities because of an ``economic barrier'' created by the price, Health Minister Soledad Maria Barria said today on Canal13 Television.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aIq60vlvxJ7E&refer=latin_america

[Demit]

1. "Sales of the pill [already] higher in wealthy communities"...

Kinda says it all, doesn't it? I'm glad the Health Minister pointed that out. And that television down there saw fit to air it.

So I wonder who is attacking this plan, that she has to defend it?

[Say_What]

2. For a country where divorce was illegal until 2004...

this is bound to be controversial. A doctor, former Health Minister and Defense Minister, and now Presidente she a woman to be admired.

[Ignacio Upton]

3. If she's causing an uproar in his own coalition about this

That scares me over how socially-conservative Chile is, but I'm glad that she's doing it .

[WhiteTara]

4. Maybe I want to move to Chile

It looks like a lovely country. Now that they have real leadership, it could be paradise.