I know this is a controversial subject but I can't help but feel like someone FINALLY spoke my mind for me...
Welland Tribune, March 10, 2009
MINDELLE JACOBS
Vatican lives in a vacuum
Another International Women's Day has passed and the Roman Catholic Church has started the year badly, predictably, by condemning an abortion for a nine-year-old Brazilian rape victim.
The Vatican is having a difficult time forcing women to have unwanted children, particularly in developing countries.
In Brazil, for example, there are an estimated 1.4 million illegal abortions a year. (The procedure is only allowed in cases of rape or to save the life of the mother). One in four pregnancy-related deaths in the heavily Catholic country is due to complications from an unsafe abortion.
But that hasn't stopped the Catholic church from continuing to place the fetus above the health and economic needs of women.
The Brazilian girl, allegedly raped by her stepfather, was pregnant with twins and was given a legal abortion last week because doctors concluded that continuing the pregnancy could have killed her.
Since the Catholic Church couldn't stop her from having an abortion, the local archbishop spanked the family with a religious penalty -- excommunicating the girl's mother and the doctors.
Memo to the Vatican: They don't care. They made what they felt was the right call under the circumstances. And they undoubtedly believe God is on their side.
Tellingly, the archbishop didn't excommunicate the stepfather, who is now in custody. While he allegedly committed a crime by molesting the girl for years, abortion is the more serious offence, according to the church.
"Human law has no value" when it's contrary to God's law, the archbishop explained. How convenient, of course, that old, rich men who are completely out of touch with the harsh realities of people's lives take it upon themselves to interpret God's will.
And so it goes. The Vatican continues to oppose abortion and millions of women around the world -- many of them Catholics in developing countries -- continue to have them because they don't give a hoot about church teaching on this issue.
About one in five pregnancies worldwide ends in abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Furthermore, it doesn't matter whether abortion is legal or not. Women will still undergo the procedure.
The lowest abortion rates in the world are in western Europe and North America, where birth control is widely available and abortion is overwhelmingly safe and legal.
In contrast, the abortion rate is staggeringly high in Africa and Latin America, where abortion is either illegal or severely restricted.
The Vatican lives in a dream world where every child is a wanted child. You naughty Catholics shouldn't be having sex unless you're planning to procreate! No birth control for you!
In fact, according to the Guttmacher Institute, more than one-third of pregnancies in developing countries are unintended and many of those end in illegal abortions.
The result? About five million women a year are hospitalized for complications due to unsafe abortions.
The police raided a medical clinic in Brazil a while back and seized patient records and the authorities are attempting to prosecute 1,000 women who had illegal abortions. Meanwhile, complications from unsafe abortions are the fifth leading cause of maternal mortality in Mexico.
If given the choice, most women would have a couple of kids -- not six or eight. If the Catholic Church really cared, it would be handing out condoms and birth control pills all over the Third World.
It's almost like the church gets off on female suffering.
That said, I don't believe in abortion as a form of birth control but, come on, seriously, a 9 year old who was raped by her step father, pregnant with twins that could kill her and she is excommunicated????? PLEASE. And the stepfather is NOT excommunicated???? PUH-LEASE! How can they accept someone who has committed a crime on a child, one who just so happens to NOT be in the womb anymore, but not accept someone who had an abortion at the age of NINE, someone who shouldn't even know what abortion or rape is, because she may have DIED if she didn't? I don't understand that backwards thinking!!!! It's appalling!!
More on this case http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/03/11/brazil.rape.abortion/index.html ...
Getting There
11 months ago
3 comments:
Wow, and i thought i'd heard it all. That is the most ridiculous crap ever! The girl is NINE and they don't see that as enough of a reason to let her abort the baby?? Her father raped her!! She's NINE. Enough said. I don't personally agree with abortion as a form of birth control, but i mean come ON, if it's either a danger to the baby or the mother, or the child is a product of rape, or there's some other extreme circumstances, then fine. Wow, the catholic religion strikes again! Sadly, this "decision" on their part is not surprising.
...and then i went back and finished reading, and noticed that your ending sounded alot like my comment. Great minds think alike! It's to be expected i guess since we share a brain! :)
Yes, great minds. I completely agree with you.
The Catholic Church is out of control and out of touch with the REAL WORLD!!
Shame on the ever self-righteous vatican for condemning that this little 9 year old be able to live her life in peace after this horrific crime and NECESSARY SURGERY!!!
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