SANTIAGO, Chile: Any woman over 14 can now ask a physician for a prescription for birth control without the permission of her parents, and the contraceptives, including the morning after pill, will be provided free by the public health care system.
The law was passed on September 1, in part due to pressure from the non-governmental Centre for the Development of Women (DOMOS), who asked the Health Ministry for expended distribution of contraceptives once president Michelle Bachelet, a doctor herself, took office in March. The measure ”immediately drew the ire of the Catholic Church and the right-wing opposition parties.” Who consider the morning after pill an abortifacient. However, the World Health Organisation ( WHO) clarifies that emergency contraception is "not effective once the process of implantation has begun, and will not cause abortion."