Argentine judge Cristina Garzon De Lascano ruled in May that oral contraceptives and intrauterine devices should be banned because they constitute abortion. According to the BBC, de Lascano ordered the destruction of all existing stocks of such medications and devices.
This is not the first time de Lascano has made controversial rulings related to reproductive health. In 2001, she ordered a ban on the morning-after pill, and in February ruled that Argentina’s laws protecting women’s reproductive health could not be applied in Cordoba province. She was overruled by a higher court on that last decision.
The BBC reported that Argentine health minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia vowed to fight to reverse de Lascano’s latest judgment, characterizing it as,
. . . absurd and based on the plea of religious fundamentalists, without consulting a single a medical academic at the Health Ministry.
Abortion is illegal in Argentina, but an estimated 400,000 women have abortions every year anyway.
Sources:
Argentine contraceptive ban ‘absurd’. The BBC, May 24, 2003.