LA PAZ, Baja California, June 23, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Bishop Miguel Angel Alba Díaz of the diocese of La Paz in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur is denouncing the state’s legislators for “cowardice” and comparing them to Pontius Pilate following the narrow defeat of a pro-life amendment to the state’s constitution.
The measure, which was brought to a vote following a successful citizen’s petition drive to require legislators to decide on it, lost in a narrow vote after a large number of lawmakers abstained from voting. Almost 20,000 signed the petition.
“No deputy voted against the initiative,” Alba commented to the press following the vote. “Much to the contrary, all of the votes were in favor of it, but, as it often happens, the abstentions prevailed of those whom, because of prudence, cowardice, or other interests, did not want to publicly commit their vote.”
According to the El Universal newspaper, Alba “pointed out that by abstaining, calculating politicians have won again, who, like Pontius Pilate, prefer to wash their hands so that they don’t feel responsible for the blood and the life of an innocent person.”
“As a thinking man I am convinced that the human life of a new individual commences from his conception and that that life, because it is precisely and undoubtedly human, has a dignity and a value that no other seed or egg of any other species has,” Alba said.
“As a citizen I await the day in which the dignity and value of that life are recognized, despite being only in an embryonic state, and that the full respect is demanded which is owed to the rights of every human life.”