Nicaraguan archbishop encourages adoption over abortion

Managua, Nicaragua, Oct 19, 2006 / 22:00 pm

Archbishop Leopoldo Brenes of Managua said this week if an unborn child is not wanted in his home, it is preferable he be given in adoption rather than being killed through abortion.

“We support life, and we think that children should be given in adoption rather than having their lives taken,” the archbishop said in response to questions by reporters about the case of a twelve year-old girl who became pregnant through rape and whose grandmother wants her to get an abortion.

Archbishop Brenes responded saying, “There are sad situations (such as that of the young girl),and the attitude of one grandmother in particular.”  Nevertheless, he underscored, “there have been cases in which the unwanted child, when he is an adult, is the one to take care of the grandmother and provide for the mother.”

The Nicaraguan archbishop expressed his rejection of therapeutic abortion and said Nicaragua faces the challenge of working for a culture of life, in which people are taught the value of being parents and the true meaning of sexuality.  “Therefore we should open ourselves to the spirit of the Lord, in order to discover what it is He is asking of us,” he said.

The current debate surrounding abortion in Nicaragua is related to proposed reforms of the country’s Penal Code. Pro-abortion groups such as the Human Rights Watch claim that laws prohibiting therapeutic abortion “violate human rights.”