Taipei City's Bureau of Health (衛生局) yesterday announced it will team up with the Bureau of Education (教育局) and Taipei City Police Headquarters (台北市警局) in efforts to provide the city's pregnant women with correct information about the currently illegal abortion pill RU 486.
The collective action was made in response to New Party City Councilor James Wei's (魏憶龍) call on Tuesday to inform the city's pregnant women, especially teenage girls, of the dangers of the drug, as well as to study the possibility of setting up information hotlines at municipal hospitals.
Director of the Bureau of Health Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) announced during yesterday's press conference that the first two information hotlines set up at the Taipei Municipal Women and Children Hospital (台北市立婦幼綜合醫院) are 02-2341-4754 and 02-2388-9595.
The hospital serves as a coordination unit to establish more information hotlines at other municipal hospitals in the future.
Director of the Bureau of Education, David Lee (
"We'd ask them to tell the students that the abortion pill is currently illegal, and that it needs to be taken under close medical supervision at authorized medical centers," Lee said.
In addition, the rate of incomplete abortions can be as high as 30 percent although RU 486 is 95.5 percent effective in inducing an abortion if taken in conjunction with a follow-up dose of prostaglandin, said Chiang Chien-dai (江千代), president of the Taipei Municipal Women and Children Hospital.
She added that RU 486 is not suitable for use by all women.
"Heavy smokers, women older than 35 years of age, and those who have blood clotting disorders should not take these pills," she said.
The education bureau also plans to add classes about RU 486 to the continuing education curriculum, which currently offers classes to adults at 20 of the city's elementary, junior high and senior high schools.
In addition, the bureau will include information about RU 486 in the textbooks for health education, which will be available beginning next semester for kindergarten students to up to high school students.
Also on the agenda is a plan include information about RU 486 in the "Chunhui Club" (
Wang Rong-jung (
The Pharmaceutical Affairs Law (
Wang also pledged to investigate the case filed by Councilor Wei. Wei yesterday gave Wang the pills of RU 486, which were purchased by his assistants in the city's Wanhua District the previous night.
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