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Slovak Lawmakers Reject Proposal to Inform Women That Birth Control Is... : 8th Mar 10
The Slovak parliament has rejected a proposal to require doctors who prescribed any hormonal contraceptive or intrauterine device (IUD) to inform their patients about its abortifacient effect and suggest a non-abortifacient alternative.
The bill also proposed the following measures: (1) warning labels on contraceptive packages like those on cigarettes, saying “The Pill causes abortion”, (2) prescriptions for morning-after pills, as opposed to over-the-counter sale, which the country allows, (3) statistical data collection from women on whether contraceptive failure is the reason they are having an abortion and (4) links to non-profit and church groups that provide information on non-abortifacient contraceptives, to be published on the website of the Health Ministry.
Though the bill met rejection, its sponsors said they were pleased that more than a third of the lawmakers voted for it. The bill was initiated by Jana Tutkova, director of the Slovak Center for Bioethical Reform (CBR). “The vote signalled that over one third of the Slovak Parliament recognises that life begins at conception”, she noted.
“This fact has been confirmed by contraceptive producers, who admit that hormonal contraceptives cause death to the conceived embryo. However, they withhold it from women on the package inserts, though admit it on the inserts for physicians”. CBR researched hormonal contraceptives registered in Slovakia and found that out of 18 of them (including “morning-after” pills), only five vaguely admit the abortifacient effect on their package inserts.
“This is very important information for women to exercise their free choice,” commented Tutkova. “Many would not take the pill if they knew they might be killing their conceived child.
The Slovak Constitution guarantees the right to information to all and the pharmaceutical industry purposely withholds it from the public to keep women in the dark about their reproductive powers”. CBR says the Slovak branch of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) saw the importance of the bill and sent its position paper to MPs in an attempt “to twist the definition of pregnancy”.
The group argued its position by noting the terminology used in in vitro fertilisation (IVF), which refers to the embryo and pregnancy even before implantation. Several medical dictionaries define the beginning of pregnancy as the moment of conception, though in recent decades the pharmaceutical industry has tried to redefine the term.
CBR says they will try to re-submit the measure in a few months, noting that a previous bill requiring information for mothers before abortions gained passage only last year, after its second time before the Parliament. LifeSite. February 17.
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