Bogotá, Colombia, Aug 24, 2005 / 22:00 pm
President Álvaro Uríbe Velez of Colombia has promised Church leaders in his country he has sent a letter to the country’s congressional body urging lawmakers not to pass a proposed law that would legalize abortion.
The vice president of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Ivan Antonio Marin, said, “The President is going to make known a letter he sent to Congress regarding the opposition to abortion. The President ordered the letter be publicly disclosed.”
Congressman Jose Luis Arcila proposed a bill that would have changed Colombian law to allow for abortion in cases of rape, artificial insemination or in the case of “non-consenting implantation of a fertilized egg.”
Other lawmakers said abortion should be completely legalized in Colombia in order to comply with international agreements signed by the government, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
The secretary general of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Fabian Marulanda, noted that upon ratifying the CEDAW, President Uríbe made himself clear that “approval of the protocol would not imply approval of abortion.”
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