Parents force mentally handicapped daughter to undergo abortion

Madrid, Spain, Jan 11, 2005 / 22:00 pm

A mentally handicapped young woman in Avila, Spain, was taken by her parents to obtain an abortion, despite the hundreds of people who volunteered to care for the young woman and her child.

Pro-life groups in Spain said sources close to the family confirmed the abortion had taken place.  A local Circuit Court Judge in Aviles, Jose Luis Niño, provided the legal shield for the parents to obtain the abortion.

Judge Niño ruled in favor of the parents last December 14, when they filed suit to allow their daughter to terminate her pregnancy because of her incapacity to carry out maternal duties.

The ruling provoked the mobilization of hundreds of pro-lifers.  The Archdiocese of Oviedo, in which Aviles is located, published a statement on December 15 calling any attempt to submit the young woman to abortion “a grave attack.”

The archdiocese recalled that “one cannot purse a good by doing evil,” adding that “a six month-old unborn child” enjoys the right to life and has no fault for “whatever has happened to the mother.”  He also pointed out that, “If there were some difficulty in helping this baby, society should have the means to help her.”

Carmina Garcia-Valdes, President of the Association of Abortion Victims, expressed her sadness that “this imperfect mother has been placed at risk and her child has been deliberately and unnecessarily killed.”  She called the decision to abort lamentable, “when hundreds had offered to care for the mother and the child, to welcome them and adopt the baby.”