The Chilean government on Tuesday announced that it will resume a program that provides no-cost emergency contraception to girls and women ages 14 and older at public hospitals, the Chicago Tribune reports (Chicago Tribune, 1/31). Chilean Health Minister Maria Soledad Barria in September 2006 announced the government's plan to distribute EC, which can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse and has been available since 2001 in Chilean pharmacies by prescription. It also has been available to teenagers who obtain parental consent, but some people said EC -- which costs about $20 in the country -- only has been accessible to the middle and upper classes. According to Alejandro Espinoza, a spokesperson for Chile's Supreme Court, two parents and La Florida, Chile, Mayor Pablo Zalaquett filed lawsuits seeking to block implementation of the law. The Santiago, Chile, Appeals Court on Sept. 13, 2006, issued a temporary injunction on the plan, but a panel of the court overturned the objection on Sept. 26, 2006. Chile's Constitutional Court earlier this month voted 6-4 to halt the program, ruling that the approval process for the plan was unconstitutional because it was implemented by administrative decree, rather than by presidential decree or a law (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/17). The government said it would correct the legal problem, the AP/CBS News reports. According to Barria, President Michelle Bachelet on Monday signed a new decree -- which is expected to be cleared by the General Comptroller's Office this week -- that would resume the program (AP/CBS News, 1/30). The decree includes an amendment that requires teens requesting EC to receive counseling (BBC News, 1/30). Some conservative critics of the policy say that EC is a form of abortion and should not be distributed to minor girls without parental notification. Some conservative mayors, including Zalaquett, have refused to allow their city health services to distribute EC. Zalaquett called the decree a "black day for our country, a slap to the institution of family" (AP/CBS News, 1/30).

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