Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Oct 6, 2005 / 12:00 am (CNA).- In preparations to mark the “Defense of Life Week” in Brazil, the National Association of Pro-life Women (NAPW) has issued a “Manifesto in Defense of Life,” which outlines the group’s concern and regret over the anti-life policies of the country’s government. The NAPW expressed outrage at not being invited to participate in a government commission that drafted a law, recently brought before Congress, on the legalization of abortion.  The group also reiterated its rejection of abortion in all circumstances, including those cases currently allowed by Brazilian law, such as in cases of anencephaly.

The group also denounced the subsidizing of abortion by Brazil’s Ministry of Health, “which has neither the right nor the duty to kill children, but rather to protect life and health.”

Further on the group states they do not feel represented by the Secretary for Women’s Policies, Nilceia Freire, “whose incessant determination to legalize abortion is diametrically opposed to the sublime mission of women to transmit and conserve life.”

“We do not accept the argument that it is necessary to legalize abortion in order for it be done ‘safely,’ just as we do not accept the legalization of stealing, or of kidnapping or of rape, with the excuse that such crimes need to be carried out ‘safely’,” the statement noted.  The group also said it was not impressed by the inflated numbers of women supposedly dying from illegal abortions.

The NAPW called on Brazilian women to refuse to vote for candidates who claim to speak for women’s issues but who act against human life.

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