Sao Paulo, Brazil, Apr 13, 2007 / 09:09 am
The Secretary General of the Bishops’ Conference of Brazil, Archbishop Odilo, said this week the country’s bishops reject a government proposal to hold a referendum on whether or not to legalize abortion in the country.
Archbishop Sherer, who will soon take up his post in the Archdiocese of Sao Paulo, said the proposal was equal to debating about the right to kill. “This is absurd. The Constitution does not foresee it,” he said.
“Nobody would like to see the right to life, which is untouchable, subjected to a referendum,” the archbishop stated. “Unborn babies are human beings, and they have that same right.” He also deplored calls to follow the model of Portugal, where abortion was legalized after a referendum.
“We don’t have to imitate what other countries have done,” he said. “I would not like my right to life to be subjected to a referendum. Society should care for life, and more so when it’s the life of innocent babies,” he stressed.