Dozens protests in favor of abortion rights in Argentina

July 28, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jul 28, 2018 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Dozens of women clad in outfits reminiscent of “The Handmaid’s Tale” took to the streets of Buenos Aires Wednesday to protest for legalized abortion, the AP reported.

Abortion is currently illegal in Argentina except for in cases of rape or to save the life of the mother. Recently, however, the country’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill that would legalize the procedure through the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. The bill would also allow people under the age of 16 to receive an abortion without notifying their parents.

Around the world, including in the United States, pro-abortion rights demonstrators have adopted regalia from The Handmaid’s Tale at their protests. The 1985 novel, which was recently adapted into a television series for the online network Hulu, tells the story of a dystopian future where women have no rights and some are forced to bear children for their masters.

The book’s author, Margaret Atwood, has publicly supported the Argentine protestors, and wrote them a letter that was read at the July 25 march. She has also criticized Argentine leadership for being against abortion.

The Argentine Senate will consider that bill Aug. 8, and President Mauricio Macri said he does not intend on vetoing the legislation if it passes the Senate. The bill passed the Chamber of Deputies by a vote of 129 to 125.

Both Macri and Vice President Gabriela Michetti have said publicly that they are opposed to abortion.

After the bill passed in the Chamber of Deputies, the country’s bishops lamented that they had much work to do with regards to the formation of their flock.

The vote exposed “weaknesses in our pastoral efforts: comprehensive sex education in our educational institutions, a fuller recognition of the common dignity of women and men, and the accompaniment of women at risk for abortion or who have gone through that trauma,” said the bishops in a statement.

“These are all calls from reality that call us to a response as a Church,” they added.

The country found in 2016 that an estimated 370,000 to 522,000 women in Argentina undergo an illegal abortion each year.

In March, hundreds of thousands of Argentines partook in a series of anti-abortion marches throughout the country on the Day of the Unborn Child. The biggest march, down the streets of Buenos Aires, saw about 150,000 people come out to show their support for life.

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On flight to Chile, Pope gives journalists photo showing ‘fruits of war’

January 15, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Aboard the papal plane, Jan 15, 2018 / 05:17 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- En route from Italy to Chile on Monday, Pope Francis told journalists of his concerns about war, and especially the use of nuclear weapons, giving each of them a photo of a child in Nagasaki.

On the back of the photo is printed “the fruits of war”, and it is signed by Pope Francis.

“I was moved when I saw this photo, and I dared to write only ‘the fruits of war’. I thought of printing it to distribute it because it is more moving than 1,000 words,” the Pope told journalists Jan. 15.

The photo is of a boy carrying the body of his brother while in line at a crematorium in Nagasaki in the wake of the Aug. 9, 1945 atomic bombing of the city by the US.

Pope Francis made his remarks at the beginning of the nearly 16 hour flight.

He also noted that he studied in Chile for a year and knows the country well. He will also be visiting Peru, where he has visited two or three times.

The Pope will be in Chile through Jan. 18, visiting Santiago, Temuco, and Iquique. He will have lunch with the Mapuche residents of the Araucania region, and visit the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

From Chile he will go to Peru, visiting Lima, Puerto Maldonado, and Trujillo. He will meet with indigenous Amazonians and pray before the relics of Peruvian saints before returning to Rome Jan. 22.

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News Briefs

Thousands march in support of life, family in El Salvador

November 7, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

San Salvador, El Salvador, Nov 7, 2018 / 04:13 pm (ACI Prensa).- Thousands participated Nov. 3 in the “Family is Life” march in San Salvador, calling on authorities to end efforts to legalize abortion and implement gender ideology in schools.

The march, which organizers estimated drew around 5,000 people belonging to 70 organizations, began at the Salvador del Mundo (Savior of the World) Plaza and ended up in downtown San Salvador.

Julia Regina de Cardenal, the president of the Yes to Life Foundation, said that many people in El Salvador are “calling for the right of parents as the first and irreplaceable educators of our children to be respected in face of the threat of gender ideology that is advancing in the programs of this government.”

Speaking to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister agency, she said that one of the threats being posed to strong families is the educational document “Comprehensive Sex Education,” since “it encourages children, starting with preschool, to encourage sexual pleasure individually or with another person.”

She further warned that another danger for Salvadoran society “is the National Interagency Strategy for the Prevention of Pregnancy” sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund and the European Union. The program promotes contraception as one of the ‘sexual and reproductive rights’ for girls, without the knowledge of parents, she said.

Regina de Cardenal noted that “on February 3, 2019, we will have presidential elections, and we hope that the candidates see that these issues are important to the people.”

The theme of the Nov. 3 march, she said, “is a message of unity and love, because it is proven that the intact family is key for development, as it provides greater stability, security and opportunities for the children and therefore to society.”

She pointed to the correlation between broken families and gang activity among young people, stressing the value of strong families for the well-being of children.

Sara Larín, of the VIDA SV (Life El Salvador) platform, who also participated in the march, said that the event also sought to “celebrate life, family and values,” as well as “to reclaim the right of parents to educate their own children.”

Gender ideology, she said, “is a violation of the rights of children.”
 
 
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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