”The pill” banned from Chilean health plans

Chile's constitutional court barred a government program which distributed the “morning-after” pill free to women and girls as young as 14. The tribunal voted 5-4 against the program after a group of opposition legislators compared giving away the pill to abortion, a procedure which is illegal in Chile.

The government of President Michelle Bachelet created the plan last year by arguing that poor women deserved access to contraceptives normally available to the wealthy. According to a Bachelet administration spokesman after the verdict:

"This means going back to square one, this means only women with money will be able to buy the pill, and that bothers the government and the immense majority of the country," government spokesman Francisco Vidal told reporters.

Coincidentally, Bachelet emphasized the “machismo and sexism” facing women during this interview over the weekend.

Image- Cleveland Leader

Sources- Bloomberg, Associated Press, independent.co.uk, The Latin Americanist, Reuters