Mexican Catholics protest plan to legalize abortion
22 Apr 2007 22:32:30 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds quotes from cardinal, first lady) By Jason Lange MEXICO CITY, April 22 (Reuters) - Mexicans marched on Sunday against plans to legalize abortion in Mexico City, a move that has split opinion in the world's second-largest Roman Catholic country and drawn fire from the Pope. The bells of Mexico City's vast cathedral welcomed some 1,000 Roman Catholics, including families dressed in white, who packed it for Mass after carrying anti-abortion placards and images of the revered Virgin of Guadalupe through the streets. Mexico City's local legislature, controlled by the leftist opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, is expected to approve a bill on Tuesday allowing abortions in the capital during the first three months of pregnancy. While the proposal is popular with many residents of liberal-minded Mexico City, it has also angered Catholics across the country, enraged clergy who helped organize Sunday's march and brought Pope Benedict himself into the dispute. In a letter to Mexican bishops, the Pope said Christ's victory over death was a reason to defend everyone's right to life "from the first moment of their conception." Replying to the letter on Sunday, Mexico's top clergyman Cardinal Norberto Rivera promised to oppose what he called a "grave threat to innocent life." "They are committing genocide, no-one has the right to take away life," said Maria Morales, a housewife who had traveled south from the state of Hidalgo to attend the rally. BACK-STREET HORRORS Women seeking abortions in Mexico have to use clandestine clinics. The poorest rely on back-street practitioners working out of unhygienic premises. Some 2,000 die annually, the bill's supporters say. While anti-abortion activists hung a banner outside the cathedral showing gory images of aborted fetuses, a small group of PRD supporters shouted slogans supporting the bill. "We want abortion legalized to stop more women dying," said PRD activist Cecilia Martinez. The PRD, which also runs the capital's city hall, has angered religious groups by trying to swiftly pass liberal reforms. The assembly approved gay civil unions in November despite protests and is now considering a euthanasia law. Special laws in Mexico City already permit abortion when a mother's life is threatened, but the rest of the country allows it only in case of rape. The church has threatened to excommunicate legislators who support the abortion bill. Lawmakers have countered by accusing the church of meddling in politics, which is forbidden under Mexico's constitution. While Mexico's ruling National Action Party has deep roots in the church, the country's president and practising Catholic Felipe Calderon has largely stayed out of the abortion debate. But his wife, first lady Margarita Zavala, criticized the abortion bill on Sunday in rare public comments that were among her first since Calderon's inauguration in December. "It worries me ... that a girl or a boy who has been in their mother's womb for 12 weeks and whose heart, lungs, head and arms can be seen on a screen ... is not considered a person," she said in a speech. (Additional reporting by Greg Brosnan)
