Peruvian feminists expel pro-lifers from press conference

Lima, Peru, May 28, 2008 / 12:46 pm

Two renowned pro-life leaders in Peru were kicked out of a press conference organized by pro-abortion organizations who promoted the event as “open” to the media and other interested parties.

Maggela de Tejada, secretary of the Peruvian Bishops’ Committee on the Family, and Carlos Polo, director of the Population Research Institute’s Latin American office, were “invited” to leave the press conference for no apparent reason.

Polo told CNA, “An hour before the press conference, we called the contact person listed on the invitation, Sonia Puerta, and she told us the event was open.  However, it was Ms. Puerta herself who asked me to leave.”

Tejada was also asked to leave after she said she was a member of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference, as “the invitation was only for members of the media.” “It was useless to explain to them that the bishops’ conference operates a number of media outlets and that if they kicked me out it would be a case of open discrimination and intolerance, since without any explanation they insisted that I leave,” Tejada said.

Another person attending the conference who asked to remain anonymous told CNA that he was not required to prove he was a member of the media.  “In fact, I’m not, but they thought I was a sympathizer of their cause and they let me stay without any problem,” he said.

“This intolerant attitude shows that abortion supporters not only aim to interpret the law in an abusive manner, but also that they are closed to any kind of debate,” Polo said.

“These organizations,” he added, “seek to give the impression that they are open, they continuously repeat their slogan of ‘freedom of choice’ and even accuse others of being ‘fundamentalists’; however, they embrace an ideological totalitarianism that is expressed in the manipulation of the freedom of many poor women.”  “They can’t even tolerate those who wish to listen to them with a critical ear,” Polo stated.