SANTIAGO, Chile - Chile's Constitutional Court halted a government program Friday that provided the contraceptive known as the "morning-after" pill free to women and girls as young as 14.
The court voted 5-4 to effectively ban the distribution of the pill by the government's health services, according to a court communique, after a request by 31 congressmen who claimed the emergency contraceptive constitutes abortion.
The government program, started by President Michelle Bachelet, a pediatrician and the country's first woman chief executive, had been the subject of heated legal battle.
It was approved by the Supreme Court in February. But congressmen backed by conservative groups took the case to the Constitutional Court. Friday's ruling, which was leaked to the media while still being written, cannot be appealed.
Bachelet said free distribution of the pill at public health centres was aimed at bringing equality to Chilean women.
"Poor women will not have access to the pill now," said presidential spokesman Francisco Vidal.
