Prelate raps U.K. plans for druggists to give day-after pill to teens

Published: 2004-08-09

MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- A British archbishop has criticized British government guidelines that would allow pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill without a prescription to girls under 16. Guidelines issued by the British Department of Health in early August said that girls under 16 should have access to confidential advice on contraception or abortion without the consent of their parents. The current position in Britain is that family doctors can prescribe the morning-after pill to girls under 16, but the license for the sale of the drug over the counter is restricted to girls and women of 16 and over. Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff, Wales, chairman of the English and Welsh bishops' Department of Christian Responsibility and Citizenship, urged Catholics to write to the secretary of state for health and "protest vigorously about the new guidelines and call for their immediate repeal." The archbishop said the new guidelines from the Department of Health totally undermined the proper rights and responsibilities of parents to nurture, guide and advise their children and to make decisions for the children in their best interests.

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