Italian Gynecologists Refuse to Prescribe Contraceptives to Underage Girls
By Claudio Lavanga
Originally published by Reuters Health, July 12, 2002
ROME (Reuters Health) — Italian gynecologists have decided to stop prescribing oral contraceptives to girls under the age of 18 in protest against what they say is unclear legislation that puts them at risk of lawsuits.
The Italian counseling gynecologists association (AGICO) says a poorly worded law makes it unclear whether they are allowed to prescribe contraceptive drugs to the underaged in their clinics.
"Article 2 of Law 194, which sets the guidelines for the interruption of pregnancy, authorizes us to handle a pill under prescription but doesn't say to whom we should prescribe it," Dr. Luigi Cersosimo, president of AGICO, tells Reuters Health. In particular, the matter of prescribing to underaged girls is not defined.
Gynecologists can give the contraceptives to girls who visit the clinics but may be breaking the law if they actually write a prescription for them, Dr. Cersosimo said.
"Most of us have been prescribing it anyway, as the ethical side prevails over the legal one. We would rather avoid an unwanted pregnancy than avoid judges," says Dr. Cersosimo. "But now we ask for more guarantee."
Dr. Cersosimo said that in at least four cases nationwide gynecologists have been sued by the parents of girls who had asked for contraceptive pills in clinics. None of them were found guilty.
"Fortunately, even the magistrates understand that there is a moral issue here. So much so, that they were the ones who suggested [the physicians] do something about it."
As a next step in their battle to obtain certainty, AGICO is preparing prescribing guidelines.
"Every gynecologist should ask his local health authority to be in charge of the distribution of contraceptive pills, and ask them to specifically relieve him from the responsibility of the prescription to the under-aged," says Dr. Cersosimo. The local health authority supplies the clinics with a steady but limited supply of contraceptives.
Giulia Rodano, president of the Regional Health Commission in Rome, told Italy's Corriere della Sera yesterday, "we need to guarantee the access to contraceptive methods to everyone."
