Bishops of Ecuador: unwanted pregnancies not an excuse to legalize “emergency contraception"

Quito, Ecuador, May 29, 2006 / 22:00 pm

In an official statement published Monday, the Bishops’ Conference of Ecuador praised a ruling by the Constitutional Court—the equivalent in that country of the US Supreme Court—prohibiting the sale of the “morning-after pill and called the decision a “Yes to life.”

“Defending life,” the bishops said, “has become a difficult task in our days, when a ‘culture of death’ is emerging through different paths, promoted and maintained by certain people who are motivated especially by economic interests.”

“This seems ironic in a society which frequently proclaims itself to be respectful of human rights and yet nonetheless does not see any contradiction in attacking the life of those who are the weakest and most defenseless, the unborn,” the bishops continued.

They acknowledged that unwanted pregnancies “indeed constitute a serious problem.  But you do not solve a problem by creating others, and less so, by irresponsibly resorting to the criminal solution of abortion.”

The morning-after pill, the bishops went on, “must be referred to for what it is, beyond the pseudo-scientific subtleties and verbal manipulations: it is simply called abortion.  Those who speak of ‘avoiding an unwanted pregnancy’ should clearly state that in reality they are talking about the interruption of pregnancy that has already begun.”

“The bishops of Ecuador support the ruling of the Constitutional Court.  We are pleased to know that our country has judges who have chosen life,” the statement noted in conclusion