Madrid, Spain, Oct 15, 2009 / 14:11 pm

Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Tarazona, Spain voiced his support this week for the October 17 March for Life in Madrid and warned that with the legalization of abortion, “a true ecological disaster” has been unleashed in Europe and will turn it into “a continent of death.”
 
“This is a true ecological disaster, which affects the unborn child, the mother who has conceived him, the different people involved in the issue (the baby’s father, the grandparents, health care workers, etc.) and all of society that will suffer from the negative impact of this ecological disaster,” the bishop said in a pastoral letter.
 
He pointed out that since the legalization of abortion, “some 50 million children were not born, who would today be 50 million young people,” which Europe needs desperately as the population “is prematurely aging and is dying of sadness and despair.”
 
The bishop warned that the Spanish government’s new law on abortion would “multiply the number of those who are not going to be born,” since it would make abortion a right protected by a false freedom and would lead to women doing “violence against their own bodies.”
 
“Psychologically, each one of these mothers will be wounded for life. They will succeed in removing ‘something’ from their wombs that today they find bothersome, but will not remove the crime they commit from their minds and hearts.  I know many women who cannot forgive themselves for having committed such an atrocity in their lives and who need to be consoled with the mercy of God,” Bishop Fernandez said.
 
He warned that with the new law women would pay the price for situations in which perhaps they are the least to blame.  “Once again, the feminist cry for freedom for the dignity of women is drowned out by dispositions to turn them into simple objects of passing and irresponsible pleasure.”
 
For this reason, the bishop encouraged Spaniards to participate in the October 17 march for life.  “Let us fight for life. Life is the future of man, never death. Let us support women in difficulty, giving them the means to assume the precious task of new motherhood,” he said.