Catholics cannot support abortion, Spanish bishops reiterate

Madrid, Spain, Jan 5, 2010 / 22:43 pm

The press director for the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Isidro Catela Marcos, has written a letter on behalf of the bishops reiterating that Catholic politicians cannot support abortion. The letter comes in response to pro-choice statements made by a Catholic who is head of Spain's Congress, Jose Bono.

In a January 3 interview with the Spanish daily, El Mundo, Bono twisted the words of John Paul II's encyclical, "Evangelium Vitae" to justify his pro-choice stance. In response, the bishops rejected Bono's reasoning and noted that Catholic politicians cannot vote for pro-abortion policies.

The bishops also commented on the country's abortion reform that is currently in the hands of the Senate. In December, Spain's House of Representatives voted 184 to 158 to pass a reform to the country’s abortion laws that would allow for the procedure up to the 14th week of pregnancy and limit the conscientious objections of medical professionals.

The bishops also criticized the law for treating abortion “as a woman’s right, and because women’s health is understood to be ‘social well-being,’ in addition to ‘physical and psychological well-being.’ It should also be condemned because it imposes abortion propaganda on the educational system.”

For this reason, the bishops’ letter recalled, “nobody in their right mind could support this law; Catholics cannot do so either in virtue of coherence with their own faith.”

The bishops said their letter was an expression of their duty to “explain the teachings of the Church on these matters, which are valid all over the world for every Catholic regardless of political affiliation.”