Spanish bishop: Social acceptance of abortion 'one of the greatest tragedies of our age'

Madrid, Spain, Feb 20, 2009 / 18:05 pm

The secretary general of the Bishops’ Conference of Spain, Bishop Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, said Thursday that the social acceptance of abortion “is one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century” and reiterated that “taking an innocent life is an absolute evil.”

During a press conference at the conclusion of the bishops’ plenary meeting, Bishop Martinez asked, “How is it possible that the right to life is not recognized” for the unborn while other rights for them are? “The less this right is protected by law, the more unjust and illegitimate will the law be,” he warned. 

Likewise, he called abortion “an intrinsically evil act” that “gravely violates the dignity of an innocent human being, taking his or her life.”  “A society that does not ensure the lives of the unborn is a society that is experiencing serious internal violence,” he said.

Bishop Martinez called for the rejection of “propaganda that deceptively presents abortion as a just another surgical or medical intervention that is hygienic and safe.”  Abortion “gravely wounds the dignity of those who commit it, leaving profound psychological and moral trauma.”

“The Church,” he continued, “sounds the alarm against the gravity of abortion by determining excommunication for all those who collaborate as necessary accomplices in its completion.”

On the other hand, Bishop Martinez reiterated that providing personal, economic and moral help to women “is a duty of strict justice,” as maternity is a valuable contribution to the common good.

“Unfortunately, pregnant women, left to fend for themselves or even pressured to eliminate their own child, turn to abortion as the both the authors and victims of this violence,” he said.