By James Tillman
BUENOS AIRES, December 1, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com)—The Argentine Legislature has approved a bill that would restrict the sale of Misoprostol, a drug that is currently being promoted by anti-life organizations as a means of conducting abortions that are illegal under Argentine's current law.
Misoprostol is currently sold in Argentina to help treat gastric ulcers; it also may be used, however, to help cause a spontaneous abortion.
Senator José Abel, a supporter of the proposed law, said, “We know of many cases where someone goes to the pharmacy with a prescription, because he has a family member with a gastric ulcer,” but afterwards sell the drug to girls who then use it to kill their unborn child. “This must be limited and controlled by the authorities,” he said.
Although the drug currently may not be sold without a prescription, the policy is poorly enforced. “Six out of ten boxes of Oxaprost [a brand name] are sold without a receipt and are bound for use in abortions,” said Néstor Luciani, head of the College of Pharmacists of the Province of Buenos Aires.
Luciani's organization has also been contacted in cases of deaths resulting from the use of Oxaprost. According to Luciani, this is “a common effect among those who use these pills on their own. And there are hundreds of cases that go unreported.”
Women on Waves, the same organization that ran an abortion ship offering offshore abortions near countries where abortion is illegal, has exacerbated the problem by supporting the illegal use of Oxaprost. The organization sponsors abortion “hot lines” that instruct women how to perform Misoprostol-induced abortions.
The bill, if signed by the executive branch of the government, would tighten the already-existing limitations on the drug's sale by allowing it to be sold only in state pharmacies.
All abortions are currently illegal in Argentina, but are not punishable when the life of the mother is at risk, or when a mentally ill or disabled woman has been raped.
See related stories on LifeSiteNews.com
Abortion Hot Lines: A New Attack on the Unborn in Latin America
Dutch Abortion Boat Grounded for Life