Italian lay missionary who served poor children in Peru murdered

A recent Cardus study says young Catholics are twice as likely as their senior counterparts to attend religious services at least once a month. / Credit: Elijah Bautista

Vancouver, Canada, Jul 22, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).
A recent Cardus study sa… […]

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jun 14, 2018 / 03:26 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- By a vote of 129 to 125 with one abstention, Argentina’s House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday that would legalize abortion in the first trimester.  

The Argentine Bishops’ Conference voiced sorrow over the passage of the bill.

“As Argentinians, this decision pains us,” said a statement from the Executive Committee and the Committee for the Laity and the Family.

However, they added, “the sorrow over forgetting and excluding the innocents must be transformed into strength and hope to continue fighting for the dignity of every human life.”

The bill passed the House of Representatives in a session lasting more than 20 hours.

It will now be sent to the Senate, and then to President Mauricio Macri, who has encouraged “responsible” debate over the topic and said that he personally opposes the legislation but will not veto it if Congress approves it.

The current law in Argentina prohibits abortion, except when the mother’s life or health is determined to be in danger, or in cases of rape.

The bill passed Thursday, however, would allow abortion on demand up to the 14th week of gestation. Minors under 16 could get an abortion without having to inform their parents.

Health care workers under the bill could be eligible for conscience-based objections to participating in an abortion if they make such a request in advance “individually and in writing” to the director of their medical center. Institutions and health care facilities as a whole would not be allowed to conscientiously object to abortion.

Unidad Provida, (Pro-Life Unity), an Argentine NGO that serves as an umbrella group for some 100 pro-life organizations, called the House passage of the bill “lamentable,” but assured that this outcome “does not intimidate us. It strengthens [our resolve].”

Pro-Life Unity praised “the courage of the representatives who rose up in defense of women and unborn children, raising their voices for those whom others want to silence with their systematic elimination.”

Now, the group said, “the Argentine Senate will have the opportunity to correct this dangerous threat to human rights and to honor the will of the nation’s people.”

“We will only be able to build a more just Argentina by basing ourselves on unwavering respect for everyone’s right to life, especially protecting the most vulnerable,” the pro-life network said.

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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Apr 27, 2020 / 04:35 pm (CNA).- A majority of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal has voted against an intervention seeking to decriminalize abortion for expectant mothers diagnosed with the Zika virus.

The judges convened a virtual plenary session April 24 to hear arguments for and against the “Direct Action on Unconstitutionality-ADI 5581,” a legal intervention filed with the court by the National Association of Public Defenders.

While the court has until April 30 to vote on the matter, 7 of its 11 members have already voted in opposition, effectively rejecting the measure.

Abortion is illegal in Brazil but previous Supreme Court rulings have declared it a “non-punishable crime” in cases of rape, a proven risk to life of the mother and, as of 2012, babies diagnosed with anencephaly.

The Zika virus garnered international attention in 2015 after areas of Brazil noted a spike in cases of the birth defect microcephaly – a condition marked by abnormally small heads, brains, and developmental delays – following a recent outbreak of the virus in areas of northeastern Brazil.

Research on the virus suggested a link between Zika virus infection during pregnancy and severe neurological birth defects, including microcephaly and incomplete brain development.

However, some experts criticized what they described as technical and scientific flaws of the premise behind ADI 5581.
The Union of Catholic Jurists of Rio de Janeiro issued an official statement arguing that a causal relationship was never established between Zika virus and the microcephaly outbreak that occurred in Brazil.

Raphael Câmara, an obstetrician at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said that when an attempt was made in 2016 to allow abortion in Zika cases, little was known about the virus.

“Since then, we have answers to many of the issues raised in ADI-5581 in support of allowing abortion,” Câmara said. “The first fact is that recent studies show that fetuses of infected mothers are affected only 5 to 14% of the time, with the majority having mild problems, as shown by research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

“In addition, a study recently released by the CDC showed that 73% of Brazilian labs have a low accuracy rate for diagnosing the Zika virus, so the request is meaningless because we cannot talk about someone ‘infected with Zika’, but rather ‘maybe infected by Zika.’ Is it based on this inaccuracy that we will kill fetuses?” the obstetrician continued.

Ahead of the Supreme Court ruling, pro-life groups in Brazil had spoken out against efforts to expand abortion in the country. A CitizenGo petition against the legal action drew more than 184,000 online signatures.

The Brazilian Bishops’ Conference had also opposed the attempt, calling on Catholics to defend life and oppose abortion. The conference wrote an open letter and also wrote privately to the Supreme Court, reiterating the duty to value the inviolable gift of life.

In 2017, the conference stated, “It does not belong to any public authority to selectively recognize the right to life or who will live or die. This discrimination is evil and exclusionary.”

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Digital. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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