Mexican bishops call abortion and infanticide abominable crimes

Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 15, 2007 / 06:48 am

The Press Office of the Bishops’ Conference of Mexico issued a statement this week denouncing the “moral malice of procured abortion” and stating that “both abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.”

The statement comes as the Mexico City legislature is debating “an initiative ‘that would allow abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy’ and would open the door for doctors in the public health care system to use the abortion pill RU-486 to ‘interrupt’ pregnancies.

The bishops made a “plea for the life of the most defenseless; life that should be absolutely respected and protected from the moment of conception.  From the first moment of his existence, the human being should see his rights as a person recognized, including the inviolable right of all innocent beings to life.”

“The inalienable right to life of all innocent human individuals constitutes a foundational element of civil society and its legislation,” the statement continued.  Such rights, it emphasized, “are not subordinate either to individuals or to parents, and neither are they a concession of society or the State.  They belong to human nature and are inherent in the person.”

“Since the first century, the Church has affirmed the moral malice of all procured abortion.  This teaching has not changed; it remains invariable.  Scientists and health care professionals, legislatures of the committees of Health and Education, and society in general, have the opportunity today to reaffirm a commitment to life,” the press office said.  Providing the greatest care for life from the moment of conception is “an essential task of a just and inclusive society,” it stressed.