 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2005 
Frenk Says Pill 'Case Closed'
Ruth Rodríguez - El Universal
| | Health Secretary Julio Frenk |
Health Secretary Julio Frenk on Monday closed the chapter on the debate surrounding the morning-after pill by confirming that the contraceptive would not be excluded from government health clinics.
Speaking at the first anniversary of the National Institute of Genomic Medicine, Frenk said the pill was not an issue that needed to be discussed further.
"We're not going to make a huge thing out of this because the case is now closed," he told reporters. "However, we have held talks with groups who were concerned with the implications of the pill, in order to allay any doubts they might have had."
Frenk confirmed he had been in close contact with Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal a devout Catholic and fervent prolife campaigner who had expressed concern over the introduction of the pill. The health secretary said he would be meeting with his cabinet colleague shortly, along with a medical expert, to explain the scientific makeup of the contraceptive and demonstrate that the pill is not a form of abortion.
Frenk also quashed accusations that President Vicente Fox had not been given enough time to review the medication package afforded to government health clinics, which included the pill.
The health secretary said the president was regularly informed throughout the year what the secretariat intended to include in the package.
Last week, Cardinal Norberto Rivera had described the time that Fox had had in reviewing the inclusion of the pill as "lamentable."
Women's rights activists have applauded the government's decision to distribute the morningafter pill to local health authorities. The medication should be available within about four months.
However, a backlash by antiabortion activists and Catholic groups, who went as far to lodge an appeal in the Supreme Court against the contraceptive, had placed the pill in controversy in recent weeks. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us