Other
The Illegality of the Free Sale of Abortifacient Tablets. Pending the review of the constitutionality of the availability of ulipristal acetate
Patar Marija Radelj
orcid.org/0000-0001-6302-2547
Abstract
On 23 April 2015 the Croatian Deputy Minister of Health issued
Instructions on the dispensation of ellaOne 30 mg tablets (ulipristal
acetate) without a prescription. These are morning-after pills, advertised as a female emergency post-coital contraceptive which “prevents pregnancies mainly by preventing or delaying ovulation”. However, it is not convincing nor has it been proved that this so called “medicine” does not also act as an abortifacient and therefore it is morally, ethically, deontologically and medically highly questionable. The Instructionsare unsustainable in the legal order as they are not in accordance with numerous provisions of the Croatian Constitution, international and European law, Croatian acts on: Consumer Protection, Contraception, Drugs, Freedom of Information,
Pharmacy, Patients Protection, the State Administration, as well as
with the Code of Pharmaceutical Ethics and Deontology, as explained in this article. The proposal to review the constitutionality and legality of the Instructions was received by Croatian Constitutional Court on 8
May 2015 and the case was designated under proceedings U-II-2077/2015.
Keywords
ellaOne; ulipristalacetat; contraception
Hrčak ID:
141367
URI
Publication date:
14.7.2015.
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