May 18, 2004

Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew announced today that Health Canada is moving forward with allowing access to levonorgestrel (morning after pill). He said that, “making the drug available in pharmacies without a prescription will help women to prevent unwanted pregnancies.”

“Has this government gone mad? If conception has already taken place, this pill will prevent the child who has been conceived from implanting in the mother’s womb,” said Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition(CLC) in Toronto. “This is not prevention of a pregnancy but an abortifacient and the death of the child. The drug companies stand to make a fortune on this.”

“Are we to believe that the Minister of Health is concerned about the women of Canada?” asks Karen Murawsky, Public Affairs Director, CLC Ottawa. “The ‘morning after pill’ is a double dose contraceptive. Even the regular birth control pill causes blood clots and strokes. This cocktail is doubly dangerous and now is to be given out without a prescription,” she continued.

Campaign Life Coalition calls for a reversal of this plan by the Health Minister in the interest of the babies and their mothers. It seems that the Liberal government is determined to push forward every morally bankrupt policy they have at their disposal.

Media Release:
Karen Murawsky, Director, CLC Public Affairs Office, Ottawa 613-729-0379
Mary Ellen Douglas, National Organizer, CLC Kingston 613-389-4472
Samantha Singson, CLC Toronto 416-204-9749

Campaign Life Coalition is Canada's national pro-life organization