Politics
Wednesday February 8, 2006
Guatemala Supreme Court Suspends Abortion and “Family Planning” Law
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By Hilary White
GUATEMALA CITY, February 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Supreme Court of Guatemala has ruled that a family planning law passed last week is under provisional suspension. The law was to open the door to legalised abortion in the predominantly Catholic country.
Guatemala president, Oscar Berger had previously vetoed the bill but congress voted to override the veto. The Supreme Court will examine this law and decide if it is in conjunction with existing laws regarding families and children.
United Nations population NGO’s have long complained that Guatemala enjoys legal protection for children from the point of conception. Article 9 of Guatemala’s Law of Fundamental Protection of Childhood and Adolescence states, “Children and adolescents have a fundamental right to life…Children and adolescents have a right to such protection, care, and assistance as is necessary to achieve an adequate physical, mental, social, and spiritual development. These rights are recognized from conception.”
The childhood protection law was heavily criticized by UN NGO’s for focusing too much on children’s need for protection and too little on “children’s rights,” which for the UN includes abortion.
A Guatemalan government spokesman said the administration wants to obtain a permanent injunction against the family planning law. Failing that, it would seek “other methods” to block the law.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06020305.html
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