As a reproductive health measure, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has made birth control, including the morning after pill, available to all women over the age of 14 for free from all public clinics in the nation.
“My experience in Chile was that most people are really ignorant of sexual health issues because they don’t talk about it,” said senior Ruth Murray, who spent last spring semester in Chile. “My host mother became pregnant on her honeymoon and was completely surprised; she didn’t know that sex led to pregnancy.”
Murray said, “The issue now is to educate people about sexual health issues.”
Parental consent was not required for the morning after pill in the original mandate earlier this month, but the Chilean court has made parental consent essential for women under 18, a common and effective obstacle to the availability of emergency contraceptives. Women under the age of 18 in the United States need parental consent to acquire it legally as well.
Before the decision, the morning after pill and emergency contraception was only available to rape victims, and they could only acquire it in private pharmacies in Chile. Emergency contraception had cost so much, it was only a realistic option for the upper-middle class and upper echelons. Options are still limited in Chile.
Abortion is illegal in Chile, but emergency contraception has been made available for legal use, after a long political battle. The new decision will increase the availability of the already legal pills.
“Unfortunately, the Church has tremendous political power here” said Patsili Toledo, lawyer in Santiago, to the Christian Science Monitor. “Reproductive rights are an issue with few political dividends.”
The Christian Science Monitor said, “The Chilean government, by giving away the pills to such young girls, is igniting a storm of opposition from critics who say it undermines parents and is tantamount to abortion.” The Catholic church has spoken out against the decision from the day it was announced.
“It’s often morally based that if birth control is easy and available, then it will increase the amount of sex,” said Kathryn Schmidt, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology.
“If you compare the United States to Scandinavian nations or other places, our teenagers have about the same rates of sex, we use birth control a lot less so we have higher rates of abortions and higher rates of teen pregnancy,” said Schmidt. “So if we see those as two negative outcomes, birth control is a good way to reduce that.”
Teen pregnancy had been on the rise in Chile since the 1970’s, from approximately 12 percent to just under 14 percent for over the last decade.
“I think it’s not on the liberal agenda or the mainstream agenda; they’re paying much more attention to the wars. The other side of this issue is that populations with a lot of young people are much more politically unstable” said Schmidt, “So it’s in the interest of international stability for population planning to work.”
For Chilean citizens, the decision impacts the nation on a personal scale.
“Of course, the critical issue here has to do with reducing unwanted pregnancies,” said Kathy Tritschler, who teaches a Human Sexuality IDS class. “While some people might object in principle to the thought of teenagers having sex, I think it is far worse to think about teenagers having sex and getting pregnant, having to abort the pregnancy or raise a child before they’re adults themselves.”
Tritschler highlighted many maternal and infant health issues associated with teenage pregnancy.
“I think Chilean goverment officials are forward thinking and acting in the best interests of their citizenry by providing free birth control,” said Tritschler. “I also think easy access to the morning after pill would be good because even responsible persons can have birth control failures — such as condom breakage.”
The Catholic Church has been historically against the use of birth control, and the church’s influence on Chile has caused some debate.
IndexMundi.com says that the population of Chile is 89 percent Roman Catholic. The strong cultural influence of the church is apparent in some Chilean reactions.
The Inter Press Service News Agency said, “Marta Ehlers, Mayor of the upscale Santiago district of Lo Barnechea and a member of the right-wing National Renovation party (RN), said she was ‘indignant’ over the news, and announced that she would not permit the distribution of emergency contraception pills, even if it is mandatory.”
Many reactions on Guilford’s campus are, however, in support of the birth control decision.
“I think sex is a natural process; it’s going to happen anyway,” said senior Warren Harvey. By making birth control available, you’re saving unwanted pregnancies,