Madrid, Spain, Oct 2, 2009 / 12:16 pm
The Bishops’ Conference of Spain issued a statement this week calling on the faithful to participate in the pro-life march scheduled for October 17 to protest against the Socialist government’s proposed reform of Spain’s abortion laws.
“The laity are appropriately responding to this challenge—which is of great moral and social transcendence—by making use of their right to peacefully protest to express their disagreement with the proposed law, which constitutes a serious step backwards in the protection of the right to life of the unborn, a greater abandonment of pregnant mothers and irreparable harm to the common good,” the bishops said.
They urged Spaniards to read their statement issued on June 17 in which they denounced the idea of converting the killing of the unborn into a “right.” The proposed reform of the country’s abortion law is “unjust,” the bishops continued, calling for prayers that unborn human life would be “appropriately protected by our laws.”
Bishop Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, secretary general of the Bishops’ Conference, said opposing abortion, which is “grave crime,” “is not a question of religion.”
“A people that kills its own children is a people without a future,” he warned.