Lima, Peru, Jun 27, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The Committee on the Family of the Peruvian Bishops Conference has published an energetic statement denouncing determination of the Minister of Health, Pilar Mazzetti, to include morning after pills in family planning programs, despite their possibly abortifacient nature.
The bishops expressed their “bewilderment at and energetic protest of” Mazzetti’s attitude, pointing out that up to now she has not “made known in a public and transparent fashion the scientific studies on which she is basing her decisions regarding the health and consciences of millions of Peruvians, and what is even more striking, regarding the possible death by abortion of thousands of children called to life.”
Likewise, the bishops recalled that “up to now the Minister of Health has mentioned only one study done on seven women,” and that she has the moral obligation to reference multiple and serious studies that prove that the morning after pill is not abortifacient, rather than requiring third parties to prove that it is. “Are not those who desire to distribute a drug responsible for proving that the drug poses no danger?” they questioned.
The bishops also underscore that if human lives are at stake, the mere probability of affecting them in their earliest stages carries the moral obligation to prohibit any action that might constitute an attack on them. “We find it inexplicable that the Minister of Health continues to ignore the opinions of organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration and the information provided by the drug’s own manufacturers.”