The Ministry of Health today rejected a request by an Israeli physician to test an oral birth control pill on a patient. Deputy Defense Minister of Health Yitzhak Fafael, who ruled against the request, said objection to the test was based not only on religious grounds but also on opposition to the principle of oral birth control, which, he said, was not yet medically proven.
Citing a steep decline in Israel’s birth rate, Mr. Rafael disclosed that before deciding against the request, he had consulted one of the country’s leading gynecologists, who was against the test.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
