Thursday, January 05, 2012

Catholic Bishops of Angola oppose move to decriminalize abortion

Legislation proposed in August 2011, by Angolan Justice Minister Guilhermina Prata to decriminalize abortion in the African country will likely fail now that the Catholic Church has come out in opposition to the measure, according to at least one government minister.

An estimated three-fifths of Angola’s 19 million citizens are Catholic.

During the recent Catholic Episcopal Conference of Angola, Sao Tome and Principe, Archbishop Jose Queiroz of Huambo told AFP, “The legalisation of abortion in Angola represents the state’s lack of responsibility in its duties to battle poverty and support the Angolan woman, a constitutional obligation assigned to the authorities.”

“Abortion is not a right for a woman to decide if a human being can or cannot live. Women are responsible for conceiving or not,” the archbishop added.

The proposal to decriminalize abortion was raised in the nation’s congress as part of an overall reform of the penal code.

All abortions are illegal in Angola, although the law does not punish abortions committed in the first trimester to save a mother’s life.

The proposed change would allow abortion on demand in the first weeks of pregnancy, and would depenalize the deadly procedure for up to 24 weeks in a variety of other circumstances, including rape, fetal deformity, socio-economic factors, and danger to the “psychic integrity” of the mother.

A justice ministry official was reported to have told AFP that the change in abortion legislation is not likely to go forward due to the Catholic Church’s moral authority in Angolan society.

When the proposal to decriminalize abortion was introduced, the country’s second-largest political party, UNITA, expressed their opposition to the proposed change to the penal code.

“First, they’re destroying life, a life that God created, they are going to kill it, it is a sin,” said the leader of UNITA, Isaías Samakuva.

During his visit to Angola in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI warned against attempts in Africa to “promote abortion as a form of ‘maternal healthcare’.”

In an address to the civil authorities of Angola the pope noted the “bitter irony” that, in the light of the “the crushing yoke of discrimination that women and girls so often endure,” including “unspeakable” sexual violence, abortion should be presented as a solution by international “human rights” groups.

“How bitter the irony of those who promote abortion as a form of maternal healthcare!” he said. 

“How disconcerting the claim that the termination of life is a matter of reproductive health!” Pope Benedict said.