Mexico City, Mexico, Jun 2, 2008 / 12:31 pm
Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez of Tehuacan in Mexico said last week that political authorities of any level “lack the faculties to restrict or eliminate human rights, which derive from the inherent dignity of the human person.”
In an article published on May 29, the Mexican bishop said, “Human rights, among them the right to life,” are irrevocable and come before the State, “which has the sole duty of recognizing them and protecting them in its national and international legislation, but it does not grant them.”
“Neither do they depend on recognition from society, nor therefore, are they are not subject to consensus,” he continued. “People make laws, laws do not make people,” he said in reference to the public arguments being held at the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the law on abortion in Mexico City.
While he acknowledged that women undergo abortion for different reasons, Bishop Aguilar stressed, “This is not about pitting the rights of the woman against those of the unborn. Both are of value.”