San Salvador, El Salvador, Sep 2, 2010 / 09:51 am
A new poll has revealed that 93 percent of Salvadorans oppose the legalization of abortion. In addition, 76 percent support the decision by President Mauricio Funes to reject the “Brasilia Consensus” which promotes the legalization of abortion in Latin American countries.
Conducted by the JBS Public Opinion firm for the newspaper El Diario de Hoy, the poll asked respondents, “Do you agree that the country’s constitution should be changed to allow abortion?” Ninety-three percent said they disagreed. Asked to provide the reason for their position, one-third said, “All of us have the right to life,” 20 percent noted that ending a life “is something that should only be decided by God,” 18 percent said abortion is the killing of a defenseless being and 12 percent said abortion “is a crime.”
The Brasilia Consensus was signed at the conclusion of the 11th Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, which took place in Brazil. The countries that signed the document pledged to review their laws on abortion.
In the case of El Salvador, it was signed by Julia Evelyn Martinez, director of the Salvadoran Institute for the Development of Women.
El Salvador’s president, Mauricio Funes, said the statement signed by Martinez “has no force of law” and that as the leader of the country, “I have not given any order or any instructions to proceed with a revision of the laws on abortion.”
The Salvadoran Constitution protects human life from the moment of conception.
The poll also showed that 76 percent support the president’s decision to rejected the Brasilia Consensus.