Bogotá, Colombia, Aug 28, 2005 / 22:00 pm
In an article published in the Colombian daily El Tiempo, Rafael Nieto Loaiza, a former high-ranking official of the Justice Ministry in Colombia, denounced the political trickery of abortion supporters who are seeking to legalize the practice in the South American country.
In his article, Nieto wrote that “those who seek its legalization have been exposed,” and he called attention to statements made from New York by Colombian lawyer Monica Roa, the author of the request to legalize abortion that has been filed before the Constitutional Court, which reveal that there is an organized strategy to liberalize abortion on the basis of “exceptions” such as rape, fetal deformation or life of the mother. According to Nieto, these statements “are chilling in their attempt to take advantage of the good will of Colombians.” He pointed to Roa’s efforts to lead a publicity campaign to influence public opinion on the issue.
“Contrary to what abortion supporters imply in their public statements, the defense of life is not a matter of the Catholic hierarchy or of those who profess religious belief. To try to discredit this defense by alleging that a group of bishops or a set of religious beliefs are behind it reveals an outdated and evil anticlericalism,” he noted.
Likewise, Nieto maintained that abortion supporters couldn’t rely “on international treaties signed and ratified by Colombia because not only do they not approve of abortion, in the American Convention on Human Rights, they explicitly protect the right to life ‘from the moment of conception’.”