London: As Italy authorised the use of the
abortion pill Mifepristone, the Vatican threatened to
excommunicate doctors, who prescribe it and women, who took
the pill.
After a heated four-hour session, Italy`s drug
regulation agency announced its decision yesterday following
opposition from the church and Catholic politicians, including
many from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi`s centre- Right
government.
The Vatican, which has battled in the United Nations
and other forums to halt acceptance of the abortion pill,
reacted with dismay to the decision to approve limited use of
the Mifepristone that has been available in much of the rest
of Europe since the 1990s.
Archbishop Rino Fisichella, head of the Pope`s
thinktank on bioethical issues, the Pontifical Academy for
Life, said: "The fact of taking a pill may be less traumatic
for a woman, but it does not change the substance. It is still
abortion."
He underlined that the consequences for a Catholic –
automatic excommunication – were "the same as those for
surgical abortion", the Guardian newspaper reported today.
Elio Sgreccia, another top official from the Academy
for Life, said that women taking the pill or doctors
administering it incur automatic excommunication under church
law, according to media reports.
Bureau Report
