Argentinean bishop leads march against abortion in La Pampa province

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec 5, 2007 / 10:23 am

Bishop Rinaldo Fidel Bredice of Santa Rosa (Argentina) led a huge pro-life march towards the headquarters of the provincial government of La Pampa in opposition to a law that would allow abortions. He demanded that Governor Carlos Verna veto the measure that was passed last Thursday.

Emphasizing that the marchers are not just negative, the bishop told AICA news agency that, “We are not against abortion, we are for life. We are for the positive benefit of subsidizing single mothers or facilitating adoption procedures, and not for the easy way out of killing a creature of God in his mother’s womb.”
 
He also stressed that the new law does not represent the will of the people and is “only the first step in the logic of the culture of death. Afterwards comes euthanasia, as in the neighboring province of Rio Negro, and later on the killing of the ugly.”

“All human beings have the right to life.  Authorities should above all strive to defend it since it is the first of all human rights.  Abortion is a crime of humanity against the innocent,” Bishop Bredice said.

Abortion norm is unconstitutional

Senator Liliana Alegre de Alonso of the province of La Pampa and president of the Worldwide Action of Parliamentarians and Governors for Life and the Family, declared her “utter repudiation” of the law as “manifestly unconstitutional and in violation of the international agreements signed by our country.”

The senator argued that “beginning with the 1994 reform of the International Treaties subscribed to by Argentina,” such as the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the American Convention on Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Children, “guarantee life from conception” and “have constitutional hierarchy.”

In ratifying the Declaration of the Rights of Children, Alegre explained, Argentina declared that “a child is understood to be any human being from the moment of conception through the age of 18.”

She noted that the new law does not protect institutions that for ethical reasons refuse to perform abortions and have policies that defend the unborn.

Senator Alegre said she was hopeful the governor of La Pampa would veto the law and that human rights groups would challenge its constitutionality.