.- In response to the news from President Michelle Bachelet that the government will renew its efforts to distribute the so-called “morning after pill” in Chile, the Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz, urged the State not to overlook its commitment to “respect for the right to life.”
During a speech on Wednesday, Bachelet announced the government would seek to distribute the pill through local municipalities as the country’s Constitutional Court ruled it could not be made available through state-run health care facilities.
“There two aspects to consider, on the one hand the right to life, which the State is committed to protecting, and on the other the freedom of individuals,” the cardinal said in response to Bachelet’s speech.
“The problem is often addressed by eliminating one of these two factors,” he continued. “I think a good solution is when both are considered and respected.” He noted that in their speeches politicians often put the supposed right to certain “freedoms” above “the fundamental right to life of every human being, from conception to natural death.”
