Argentinean bishop says sterilization betrays “gift of procreation”

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jul 6, 2006 / 22:00 pm

Bishop Luis Stockler of Quilmes said this week that tubal ligations and vasectomies constitute, “a total mutilation of the human body that among other things cuts off the gift of procreation which is born of the act of love, open to life, of spouses.”

The bishops expressed disbelief that Argentina’s Congress would dare to, “authorize the irreversible sterilization of men and women with the claim that people are free to do with their bodies whatever they wish and under the guise of preventing the increase of poverty.”

Bishop Stockler emphasized the urgency of rediscovering the, “essential and natural human values and morals that derive from the very truth about the human being,” which the Bishop said is necessary for, “the future of society and the development of a healthy democracy.”

“These are values that no individual, no majority and no State can ever create, modify, or destroy, but rather must be recognized, respected and promoted,” the bishop continued.  Therefore, he said, it is necessary to keep in the mind the relationship between civil law and moral law.

Meanwhile, the National Secretariat for the Family of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina exhorted lawmakers who sit on the Committee for Family, Childhood and Adolescence to develop sex-ed programs that, “respect freedom of conscience as a right of parents, children, teachers and schools.”