Pro-lifers reject minor changes to pro-abortion Constitution in Ecuador

Guayaquil, Ecuador, Jul 16, 2008 / 19:04 pm

The president of the Familia y Futuro Foundation, Sonia Maria Crespo, denounced Ecuador’s Constitutional Assembly this week for not guaranteeing the right to life from the moment of conception in the country’s new Constitution and for making insufficient changes to the draft constitution.

On June 26, the Assembly drafted the section on civil rights leaving the door open to legalized abortion by eliminating the phrase “from conception” and enshrining controversial reproductive and sexual rights as civil rights.

In response, more than three thousand people marched on July 9, demanding that the Constitution protect life from the moment of conception and that the controversial phrases on reproductive and sexual rights be eliminated.

The protestors said Catholics would vote “no” when the final draft is submitted to a popular referendum if the text is not modified.  Last weekend, the president of the Assembly, Fernando Cordero, was forced to say on Ecuadoran television that if any Assembly member requested it, the articles in question would be reviewed.

In recent hours the Assembly have debated a new draft of the section on the right to life, but pro-life leaders said it did not go far enough.  The section now reads, “The State recognizes and guarantees life, including its care and protection from the moment of conception.”

However, Crespo said, “We do not accept this draft, with or without the commas,” adding that pro-lifers want the clause to read: “The State ensures and guarantees the right to life from the moment of conception, including its care and protection."