Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb 4, 2016 / 05:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In its first statement related to the health crisis sparked by the Zika virus, the Brazilian Conference of Catholic Bishops said that the disease is “no justification whatsoever to promote abortion.”
In the statement, released Feb. 4, the Brazilian bishops say that it is not morally acceptable to promote abortion “in the cases of microcephaly, as, unfortunately, some groups are proposing to the Supreme Federal Court, in a total lack of respect for the gift of life.”
Early this week, a group of feminist organizations asked the Supreme Federal Court in Brazil to legalize abortion in cases of “malformation of the fetus.” Abortion is illegal in Brazil, except in cases of rape, situations deemed to be health emergencies, or if the baby has a fatal abnormality known as anencephaly.
Concerns over the Zika outbreak continue to grow as the virus – spread by mosquitos and sexual contact – has reached at least 29 countries. World Health Organization estimates suggest that 3 to 4 million people throughout the Americas will be infected in 2016.
While the symptoms are usually mild to moderate, the virus can have serious consequences for pregnant women. It has been linked to a rise in microcephaly – a condition in which babies are born with small heads and other complications. As a result, some groups have called for an expansion of abortion in Latin America.
Regarding the World Health Organization decision to declare a global health emergency because of the Zika virus, which has significantly expanded in Brazil, the bishops said that “we should not give in to panic, nor act as if we were in a situation that, despite its gravity, is not invincible.”
Brazil's ministry of health announced today that its investigation has reported 3,670 cases of microcephaly. So far, 709 have been discarded and 404 confirmed, out of which only 17 are related to the Zika virus.
“The connection between the Zika virus and microcephaly deserves special attention, even though it has not been scientifically proven,” the bishops also say.
They called “all Catholics in Brazil to continue cooperating in the fight against the Aedes Aegypti mosquito” – which transmits the Zika virus as well as the Dengue and Chikungunya viruses – and called politicians to “secure medical assistance to the persons affected by the disease, especially babies with microcephaly and their families.”
“Health is a right that must be guaranteed. Without a comprehensive and effective national health policy, all efforts to fight the decease will be compromised.”
Finally, the bishops asked lay Catholic leaders across the country to “get organized and help the people to acquire awareness of the dire situation, as well as the best ways to prevent the decease. With the help of each one of us, we will prevail.”
Article Archive
Brazilian bishops reject push to expand abortion to Zika virus cases
Related Articles • More Articles
Pope Francis prays during his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 24, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Apr 25, 2024 / 16:10 pm (CNA).Asked during a new interview if he has any message for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who instigated the war in Ukraine, Pope Francis stated that "a negotiated peace is better than an endless war."CBS News broadcast some excerpts April 24 from a new interview conducted by journalist Norah O'Donnell with Pope Francis at St. Martha House, the pontiff's residence in the Vatican.During the exchange, the full version of which will be released on May 19, the Holy Father reflected on world conflicts and especially on the suffering of children during wars.O'Donnell asked the Holy Father if he had any message for Vladimir Putin regarding Ukraine, to which the pontiff replied: "Please, countries at war, all of them... Stop the war. Seek to negotiate. Seek peace. A negotiated peace is better than an e...
An aerial view of Washington Square in San Francisco on May 22, 2020. / Credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Apr 25, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).San Francisco police arrested a homeless man last Sunday for allegedly stabbing a parent from a nearby Catholic school after an altercation involving the two outside a historic Catholic church in the city. Twenty-five-year-old Marko Asaulyuk of San Francisco was charged with attempted murder and eight counts of assault with a deadly weapon.The Catholic school father, who was released from the hospital Sunday, only suffered a minor injury to his leg, Father Tho Bui, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, told CNA Thursday in an email.San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone was conferring the sacrament of confirmation on the parish school's students and students from a nearby parish during a noon Mass when a "disruptive man" entered the church, as Bui described him.The man was walking up and down the main aisle of the ...
The pro-life flag from the Pro-Life Flag Project (www.prolifeflag.com). / Credit: Pro-Life Flag Project (www.prolifeflag.com)Toronto, Canada, Apr 25, 2024 / 12:50 pm (CNA).The International Pro-Life Flag will not fly over Toronto Catholic schools this May.Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) trustees voted against an April 23 motion proposed by trustee Michael Del Grande that the pro-life flag fly outside all schools and the Catholic Education Centre during the month of May, just as the board voted to fly the Pride flag in June.Del Grande's motion was defeated at the April 23 board meeting when only Garry Tanuan supported Del Grande's motion. The eight other board members in attendance and the two student trustees opposed his proposal.Though Del Grande could not muster enough backing from his colleagues, his plan, which would have also directed all TCDSB schools to teach an exclusively pro-life curriculum on May 9, the day of the National March for Life, garnered bois...