Managua, Nicaragua, Oct 24, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The president of the Nicaraguan Association For Life, Rafael Cabrera Artola, has announced his support for the elimination of “therapeutic” abortion from the country’s Penal Code, arguing that pro-abortion forces want to maintain the current law in order to “make the recognition of this crime easier by asserting that it can be justified for solving a medical problem.”
Cabrera said that by eliminating the article in question from the Penal Code, which dates back to 1891, the country could prevent pro-abortion organizations from adjusting their strategies to push their agenda under the banner of therapeutic abortion.
“The article we want to eliminate has been constantly manipulated, even for falsely asserting that abortion in Nicaragua is allowed in cases of rape or incest, illness of the mother, or deformation of the fetus. What they want to do is open a door to this crime in pseudo-legal terms for different reasons; for emotional problems, for spousal abuse, for family problems,” he noted.
Regarding the opinions by some pro-abortion organizations that assert that Nicaragua would be subject to international lawsuits if it passes the reformed Penal Code with the new laws against “therapeutic” abortion, Cabrera said Nicaragua raised objections at the UN conferences in El Cairo (1994) and Beijing (1995) and therefore was never committed to implementing any action that would threaten the lives of the unborn.