Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Jun 21, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The Bishops’ Conference of the Dominican Republic warned this week that pro-abortion NGOs associated with international organizations are pressuring to get abortion legalized in the Caribbean country.
In a message read by the Secretary General of the Conference, Bishop Benito Angeles, the bishops point out that the actions of these organizations must be confronted by “proclaiming our own rights as a country and as a free nation.”
Regarding the new Penal Code which Congress is set to debate, the bishops note it is “an evident threat against human life,” despite the claim by the drafters that they are simply attempting to “modernize” the code based on a new consensus.
The bishops underscored that it is not “modern” to grant the right to kill a defenseless human being innocent “of the irresponsible human actions of particular persons who, in addition, are excused from all moral and legal responsibility.”
They also criticized the idea of a consensus for the legalization of abortion. “It seems illogical that the intellectual capacities of ‘the wise’ turn against human life itself and intellectually justify the legalization of this crime,” the bishops said.
The statement emphasizes that women should be defended “against anything that violates their dignity, their person, their life and their rights,” but they warn that deciding whether another individual should live or die, especially when the person in question “is her own child,” is not legitimate.