Mexico: Legalization of Abortion in Mexico City
On April 24 last,the city of Mexico voted in favor of the legalization of abortion, by 49 to 19 in the legislative Assembly dominated by the Party of Democratic Revolution, and the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the former majority party, opposed to the Party of National Action (Catholic right-wing). The reform of the penal code will enable women who so desire to have an abortion during the first 12 weeks of their pregnancy. Abortion in case of danger to the mother’s health, of rape or of foetal defects – already legal before this reform – will now be allowed beyond the first 12 weeks.
The College of Bioethics of Mexico pronounced in favor of abortion whose “interdiction was an offence to women’s rights.”
“The legalization of abortion is an historical triumph, a triumph for the Left,” declared Jorge Diaz Cuervo, a social-democrat parliamentarian in favor of the bill, “today we can breathe new air in this town, the air of liberty.”
Marcelo Ebrard, the mayor of Mexico, affirmed: “No one is going to intimidate me.” In fact, last November the city of Mexico authorized civil unions between same-sex partners, and is currently studying the possibility of legalizing euthanasia.
Alongside the Catholic Church which represents 93% of the population, the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, opposed the bill. Many Catholic demonstrations were organized in protest, in spite of the interdiction of political activities decreed by the Mexican Constitution for religious organizations.
Archbishop Noberto Rivera Carrera, cardinal archbishop of Mexico, had strongly recalled, during his homily on Palm Sunday, that life comes from God our Father, and that “the Church is opposed to this crime as to all the other crimes which are attempts against life, such as any homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, and even voluntary suicide.”
Bishop Marcelino Hernandez, auxiliary bishop of Mexico, pointed out that any politician in favor of abortion would be excommunicated. The Mexican Catholic Church gathered 32,000 signatures of the 36,900 required for a referendum, which was rejected by the Mayor of Mexico City.
Bishop Carlos Aguiar Retes, President of the Mexican Bishops’ conference, and bishop of Texcoco, published Benedict XVI’s letter dated April 18: “Concerned about the bill in the Federal District, which threatens the life of the unborn, the pope is of like mind with the Church in Mexico and all people of good will.” The Sovereign Pontiff exhorted the faithful to resolutely “protect and defend” “the right to life for every human being, from the first moment of conception, against any manifestation of a culture of death.”
On April 23, Archbishop Angelo Amato, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke about abortion, homosexual marriage, and euthanasia on the occasion of a symposium of Catholic chaplains for civil aviation on the theme of terrorism. “A daily terrorism with a human face and just as repulsive is slyly being diffused by means of social communication and artful manipulation of the traditional language with phrases which hide the tragic reality of facts. According to it, abortion is thus called voluntary interruption of pregnancy, and not the murder of a defenseless human being; the abortion clinic is designated by the innocuous and even attractive phrase: ‘center of reproductive health’, and euthanasia is called in a lighter manner ‘death with dignity’.”
Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez, bishop of Tehuacan, and President of the episcopal Commission for the Family, the Youth and the Laity, declared in a communiqué dated April 26: “The right of the pregnant woman to decide apparently about her own body is more precious – so the legislative majority of the Federal District has decided – even though this involves the suppression of another human being who has begun to develop in her womb. Thereby, the uterus which should be the safest place for life, becomes the most dangerous”… “the passing of this law does not order people to abort, however it opens the door to permissiveness.” “Abortion has been redefined as an interruption of pregnancy after the twelfth week of gestation. It has now become too easy to say that if pregnancy is interrupted before that time it is not an abortion.”
On April 25, Bishop Arizmendi Esquivel, bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas expressed himself in a document entitled: Requiem for a Mexico ever faithful?: “The empire of death, biased pride, the pretence to be gods, insensibility towards the newly born, the extermination of innocent are victorious. A secularism which claims to exclude from politics all that smacks of God is triumphing. The Church is losing. Science based on ethics is losing. Human rights are losing. The family is losing. Life is losing. We are all losers.” “The right to life is not subject to a vote, because life does not depend upon the whim of majorities which can also be manipulated.” Let Christian doctors “not allow themselves to be compelled to practice abortions, lest they would be responsible for the crime of murder, even though it is not a civil offence.”
The number of Catholics has fallen by 4% over the last 15 years in Mexico, acknowledged Archbishop Alberto Suarez, archbishop of Morelia. During the Spring General Assembly of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Suarez evoked the crisis the Catholic Church is undergoing in Latin America. According to him, it is both necessary and urgent, to strengthen Catholic identity. He expressed the wish that, next May, the 5th Conference of the Council of the Bishops’ Conference of Latin America, take appropriate measures.
