MANAGUA, February 27, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The abortion of a 4-month unborn child of a 9-year-old rape victim has sparked a renewed abortion debate in Nicaragua. The country’s Roman Catholic bishops compared the violation of the womb, which destroys innocent human life, to a terrorist bomb. “Is there any difference between a bus full of passengers that receives the impact of a car bomb,” the bishops demanded, “and a metallic instrument that impacts the maternal womb to suck out a fetus?” The bishops took the occasion to encourage Nicaraguan congressmen not to accept proposals to liberalize abortion laws, which for the moment place restrictions on abortion in many cases. “For the love of Jesus Christ, for the salvation you hope for and for the good of the nation, do not approve abortion under any motive or pretext,” they wrote, or consider “legalizing the abominable crime of abortion even disguised under supposed pseudo-humanitarian extenuating factors such as calling it therapeutic.” Meanwhile, the government is investigating the abortion. Attorney General Julio Centeno said it may have been a crime under the current law. Health Minister Lucia Salvo has called it “a crime.” For Newsday coverage: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-nicaragua-abortion0225feb25,0,5285537.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines