The president of the Bishops’ Conference of Ecuador, Bishop Nestor Herrera, has called on Ecuadorians to prevent a new anti-life law that would promote abortion and the morning-after pill from taking effect.

The new law obliges public and private healthcare facilities to offer abortions in certain cases, with no opt-out provision for doctors for reasons of conscience.  It also allows the government go above the heads of parents and to develop policies and educational programs on sexual and reproductive health.

Bishop Herrera issued “a respectful but firm call on all institutions, families and Catholic persons to find the means to prevent this law from taking effect: it is an attack on the authority of parents, teachers, and doctors, and it promotes a culture of death and not of life.”

The law has been passed by Congress but could still be vetoed by Ecuador’s president, Alfredo Palacio.