Politics
Tuesday November 20, 2007
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
Brazilian Government's National Health Conference Rejects Abortion
Vote seen as devastating blow against Lula regime's desire to legalize practice
By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
BRASILIA, November 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) -The Brazilian National Health Conference, an arm of the pro-abortion Ministry of Health of the socialist Lula regime, has made headlines across the nation by roundly rejecting the legalization of abortion.
"The Ministry of Health was defeated", summed up the Globe, a nationally recognized newspaper, which attributed the event to the superior organization of Catholic delegates to the conference.
According to Francisco Batista Junior, president of the National Health Council, at least 70% of the participants voted against the proposal, even after it had been watered down with vague language. The word "abortion" had been removed from the original text, and replaced with the term "reproductive rights", a phrase often used by the abortion lobby to refer to the availability of abortion.
The text of the resolution read: "Ensure sexual and reproductive rights, respect the autonomy of women regarding their bodies, recognizing it as a public health issue and debate its decriminalization by means of legislation."
The rejection of the pro-abortion amendment is seen as a particularly significant setback for pro-abortion forces because the National Health Conference had recommended the decriminalization of abortion eight years ago in December of 2000. The decision may reflect the recent surge in awareness about the possibility of legalizing abortion, which has spurred a growing national pro-life movement that has the support of 60% of the Brazilian population.
Adson Franca of the National Alliance for the Reduction of Maternal and Neonatal Mortality, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Health, expressed his disappointment. "The rejection was very surprising because the proposal passed in more than eight plenary sessions, with more than 300 delegates in each one," he said.
Franca later made it clear that the Ministry of Health would continue to promote the legalization of abortion despite the vote. "The force of religious thinking is very great and, paradoxically, does not perceive that penalizing doesn't help society," he said. "We believe that the central question is to decide if a woman should be a prisoner or not."
Clovis Boufleur, from the Pastoral Institute for Children, had a different perspective on the vote. He called it a "victory for society".
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Pro-Abortion Expression Permitted, Pro-Life Forbidden on Campus at Australia University
- Quebec Mayor Vows to Continue Prayer Despite Human Rights Commission Order
- Ontario Forces Taxpayers to Pay for Sex-Change Operations
- California Supreme Court Asked to Stay "Gay Marriage" Order until November Public Ballot
- Anglican Acceptance of both Abortion and Sanctity of Life will Allow the Creation of a Gay Church Says Bishop
- Governor Schwarzenegger Vows to Fight Reinstatement of Traditional Marriage
- President Bush and California Bishops Oppose Judicial Activism
- Internet Expertise to Save You Time and Money
- Abortifacient Morning After Pill Now Sold off the Shelf in Canada
- UK Commons Embryo Bill Debate Heated with "Wooly Liberal Thinking"
- Letters to the Editor for May 16th, 2008
Most Read this Week
- Texas Pastor Connected with Prominent Gay Porn Website
- Texas Pastor Resigns After Involvement in Gay Porn Site Exposed
- Archbishop Publicly Tells Pro-Abortion Kansas Governor Not to Receive Communion
- Archbishop: For the Clergy Obedience to Church "Requires Preaching About the Moral Evil of Contraception"
- California Supreme Court Imposes Homosexual 'Marriage' on State
- Even the Leaders Think the Homosexual Activist Movement in Canada is Going Too Far
- Christian Ministry to Disabled Drops its Code of Conduct Under Human Rights Tribunal Pressure
- More and More Seeing that "The Pill Kills"
- Time Magazine: "Want to wreck the environment? Have a baby." - Prince Philip Concurs
- Pope Reminds Spouses of their "Responsibility To Generate New Children"
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any Internet re-publishing of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews that have come from other news sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.