President of Ecuador partially vetoes anti-life legislation

Quito, Ecuador, Nov 28, 2006 / 22:00 pm

The outgoing president of Ecuador, Alfredo Palacio, has issued a partial veto of a law reforming the country’s healthcare laws that various organizations said were an attack on the rights of parents, freedom of conscience, and the respect for life from the moment of conception.

According to the association Pro-Life Action, Palacio reconsidered certain sections of the proposal “at the request of different pro-life, pro-women, pro-family, and pro-freedom of conscience organizations and movements.”

“The National Network of pro-life, women and family organizations thanks the Ecuadorian people and people of the entire world who supported us and who were the ones truly responsible for this triumph of life, family, and freedom of conscience.  The next step is to ask the Ecuadorian Congress to sustain the president’s veto and thus respect the Constitution of our country,” the group said in a press release.

Nevertheless, the group warned that three articles of the country’s healthcare laws need to be reviewed.  They include articles that allow for the importation of contraceptives without approval by the government, as well as articles that are ambiguous about emergency abortions and that open the door to approval of the morning-after pill.

“The task has been arduous, but the achievements have been great,” the statement indicated, especially considering the pressure from international organizations.  “We shall not dismay in our defense of life, the family and freedom of conscience,” the group stressed.