Pro-life lawyers oppose bill to legalize abortion in Dominican Republic

September 15, 2020 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

CNA Staff, Sep 15, 2020 / 10:58 am (CNA).- A group of pro-life lawyers in the Dominican Republic have called on lawmakers to reject a bill legalizing abortion in certain cases. They say the proposal would violate the country’s ban on the death penalty.

The group Lawyers for the Defense of Life and the Constitution said in a press release that on September 10, they visited Alfredo Pacheco, the president of the country’s lower legislative body, the Chamber of Deputies.

The lawyers gave Pacheco a document calling for the laws on abortion to remain untouched and arguing that legalizing abortion would be a violation of the nation’s constitution.

Article 37 of the Dominican Republic’s constitution establishes that “the right to life is inviolable from conception until death. The death penalty may not be established, sentenced or applied in any case.”

“The president of the Chamber of Deputies Alfredo Pacheco promised to send the document on to each deputy,” the pro-life lawyers said in their press release.

The Dominican Republic is one of just a few countries in Latin America that maintains a total ban on abortion.

Last month, the Chamber of Deputies began considering a bill to decriminalize abortion in certain conditions – when the life or health of the woman is in danger, when the baby is not believed to be able to live outside the womb, and when the pregnancy is the result of rape.

According to the local press, the congressmen are divided over the bill, which has been sent to a special commission for review.

At the beginning of September, the National Commissions for Pastoral Life and Family at the Dominican Bishops Conference reiterated that the unborn child has the right to life and that there are no grounds that justify the direct and intentional killing of an unborn baby.

The bishops clarified that when a woman’s life is in danger, it is morally permissible to treat her condition, even if the treatment results in the death of the baby, since the death in that case is neither direct nor intended, but instead an undesired consequence of the treatment.

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Mexican bishops meet with President López Obrador on peace, migration

June 19, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Mexico City, Mexico, Jun 20, 2019 / 12:39 am (CNA).- A delegation from the Mexican Bishops’ Conference met June 17 with the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, discussing the country’s migration crisis and efforts to establish peace.

The bishops’ conference said in a statement that they met with López Obrador and discussed “addiction prevention, the advancement of youth, prison ministry, ecology and sustainable development, family, the defense of life, healthcare, and pastoral ministry in the military.”

The bishops told the president “that the Catholic Church wants to fulfill its mission joining the search for the common good within the framework of a positive secularism, where the full exercise of religious freedom strengthens democracy,” the communiqué said.

The Mexican bishops said that they received from López Obrador “a cordial reception, attentive listening, and a great willingness to maintain a collaborative and coordinated effort for the good of the people that inhabit and traverse our homeland.”

With U.S. President Donald Trump threatening tariffs on Mexican imports, López Obrador has agreed to cooperate in stemming the flow of immigrants from Central America. The Mexican government has recently increased troops at its own southern border in an effort to cut back on illegal entrances into the country.

Still, thousands of migrants who have unsuccessfully sought entrance into the U.S. are now opting to remain in Mexico, creating a crisis as resources to support the migrants are strained. More than 80,000 refugee applications are expected in Mexico this year, more than double the number filed last year, according to the LA Times.

The bishops told the president of Mexico that “the Catholic Church wants to continue to contribute to the response to this emergency our country is going through.”

“With its 95 dioceses, 10,000 parishes, more than 130 shelters and with thousands of pastoral workers throughout the national territory, the Church is carrying out an important humanitarian aid and human rights mission,” the bishops explained, which is “a labor that is not always recognized.”

The Church leaders expressed their desire to “join forces” and collaborate with the different levels of government to “guarantee the safety of migrants and pastoral workers.” They voiced their concern about “the criminalization and stigmatization of migrants and human rights advocates.”

The bishops also stressed the need for rule of law and respect for human rights in combatting the violence that has grown rampant in some areas of the country.

“The suffering of so many Mexican families because of violence and the lack of security urgently calls for fraternal collaboration,” they said.

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