Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jul 18, 2006 / 22:00 pm
A feminist leader has revealed that the National Council of Christian Churches in Brazil (NCCB) has been an ally for several years of organizations that promote abortion in the country and that together they have managed to silence a prominent pro-life leader.
Fatima Oliveira, executive secretary of the Feminist Health Network, made the revelation in an article published on the website of the Brazilian affiliate of Ipas, a multinational corporation dedicated to promoting “reproductive rights.”
Oliveira maintains in her article that she advised the NCCB in 2002 regarding an event supporting assisted reproduction techniques-which are not approved by the Catholic Church.
The NCCB is made up of representatives of the Catholic Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church of Brazil, the Reformed Christian Church, the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Brazil, the Methodist Church and the United Presbyterian Church.
Oliveira claims the NCCB is a, “democratic forum that engages in confrontation with the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil on various issues.” She maintains that in 2003 feminists obtained the support of the NCCB in silencing Father Luiz Carlos Lodi da Cruz, president of the Pro-Life Association of Anapolis.
She also claims that on September 28 of that same year, the date chosen by feminists to promote the legalization of abortion in Latin America, Father Lodi da Cruz declined to be interviewed by the national media, supposedly saying he would only speak if the NCCB authorized him.
Oliveira considers Father Lodi da Cruz’s decline to be evidence that her efforts at the NCCB were successful. “Therefore I think this is the time to establish a greater alliance with the NCCB, which has adopted a position that is much more peaceful and that contests many of the attacks of the Catholic Church against the feminist struggle for the right to choose,” she said.