Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mar 29, 2022 / 14:37 pm
Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, Archbishop of São Paulo, has described the statement on abortion made by Brazilian presidential candidate and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as "unfortunate."
During a March 24 interview on Super 91.7 FM radio, Lula said that as a father of a family he is against abortion, but that if he wins the presidential elections he will need to treat it “as a public health issue.”
“I, Lula, father of five children, am against abortion and always have been. Now, I, the head of state, need to treat the matter as public health. Personally, that’s my thought, but how am I going to treat this as a head of state?” he said.
"Many people are against abortion, but they run to other countries to do it in secret, while women die on the streets," Lula said. "It is up to the state to give these people the ability to get decent (medical) treatment, that’s the role of the state," he added.