Saturday, February 20, 2016

Zika and Abortion


 

Abortion never a “solution” to the Zika virus

By Dave Andrusko
Pope Francis
Pope Francis

You may have heard a few words here and there about an exchange between Pope Francis and Donald Trump. But you would have to go to sites such as the Catholic News Association and EWTN to get the full flavor of the Pontiff’s passionate comments about a different topic–how abortion is always an evil and never a “solution” to the Zika virus.

As we’ve discussed on numerous occasions, pro-abortionists are attempting to use fear over the Zika virus to loosen, if not obliterate, protective abortion laws in Latin American.
Here’s the background to the Pope’s comments.

Pope Francis was returning from his trip to Mexico when Paloma García Ovejero of the Spanish radio network Cadena COPE brought up the Zika virus which has not been scientifically proven to be the cause of microcephaly, an abnormally small head in newborns. According to CNA/EWTN
“The greatest risk would be for pregnant women. There is anguish,” the journalist said. “Some authorities have proposed abortion, or else to avoid pregnancy. As regards avoiding pregnancy, on this issue, can the Church take into consideration the concept of ‘the lesser of two evils’?”
Said the Pope, “Don’t confuse the evil of avoiding pregnancy by itself, with abortion. Abortion is not a theological problem. It is a human problem, medical. One person is killed to save another. It is evil in itself, it is not a religious evil, it is a human evil.
The Holy Father expanded on the evil of abortion.
“It’s against the Hippocratic oaths doctors must take. It is an evil in and of itself, but it is not a religious evil in the beginning, no, it’s a human evil. Then obviously, as with every human evil, each killing is condemned,” he said.
Previously, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the UN, said, “It must be emphasized that a diagnosis of microcephaly in a child should not warrant a death sentence,” adding that such a response would be “the confirmation of a failure of the international community to stop the spread of the disease.”
On the very important topic of abortion and the Zika virus, Charles C. Camosy, associate professor of theological and social ethics at Fordham University, has written an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times. It is well worth reading in its entirety, but for our purpose here let me offer just the conclusion.
He is referring back to the beginning of his op-ed where he writes about how the usual suspects whooshed in to promote abortion as a response. Camosy cites the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the blog Think Progress, Slate’s feminist XXFactor blog, Amnesty International, and Planned Parenthood’s international arm, but there were many others he could have cited.
The rush to advocate for abortion as a response to the Zika virus is grounded in ignorance and expedience. If these organizations were actually interested in helping people with Zika — rather than exploiting the outbreak for a broader agenda — they would have held their fire until we know more. They also would have done more to wrestle with the views of the disability-rights community.
Instead of arrogantly insisting that developing nations must change their laws to suit someone else’s ideology, abortion proponents and the media would be better served by taking a critical look at the dark tendency here and elsewhere to turn to eugenics as a solution to a problem like Zika.

Source: NRLC News

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