The Pope and Abortion in Brazil

Brazilian president is about to enact pro-abortion law, and the pope does not know about it

By Julio Severo

A bill protecting victims of sexual violence was passed by stealth in the Brazilian Congress recently. There is no problem in laws protecting such victims. But pro-abortion groups praised it because it will effectively legalize abortion in Brazil. It will enforce another law that says that to get an abortion is enough for a woman to say that she was a victim of rape. There is no need of medical and legal evidence. Any woman can get an abortion by alleging violence.

Pope Francis and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff

This bill, the way it is, helps more abortion than victims of sexual violence. Now, it waits official enactment by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, a fervent socialist who, nevertheless, seeks not to antagonize her massive Catholic population.

Pro-life groups throughout Brazil are pressing the Catholic National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (NCBB) to convince Rousseff not to enact the pro-abortion bill. But NCBB, traditionally aligned with many of the Liberation Theology tenets, has been divided about an opposition to the bill.

Rousseff will react according to the popular mobilization she sees. She is seeing some small Catholic and evangelical groups opposing. She is seeing NCBB divided. And in this urgent context, where abortion can be legalized at any moment, the pope comes to visit Brazil!

Just one word from Pope Francis asking Rousseff not to enact the abortion law would be more than enough for her to comply with his wishes. His word represents the will of millions of Catholics, and Brazil is the largest Catholic nation in the world.

But largely leftist NCBB has not informed the pope about the urgent issue. Brazilian pro-life leaders are trying to get to the pope to ask his help, but even in this case, under the alarm of learning about the desperate situation in Brazil, the pope could eventually get disoriented by seeking additional information directly from the most important Catholic hierarchy in Brazil: NCBB.

Disturbed by this assertion, I have tried to find out what you are talking about. I have found several points:

1. The Brazilian constitution forbids abortion
2. Enormous majorities of the Brazilian population oppose any move to legalize abortion.
3. The Catholic News Agency refers to a general movement to loosen abortion laws in Brazil, but makes no mention whatsoever of any specific legislation.
4. Brazil’s court did allow for the abortion of anencephalitic babies, on the pretext that they would never become “people” since they could not survive until birth.
5. The Pope showed his great concern about that ruling by bringing a baby diagnosed as anencephalitic but who nonetheless survived into a central role in the climatic mass witnessed by 3 million people. The family presented the offetory, and their significance was explained to the public.

I think you have some very mistaken information that you have blitzed Free Republic with.

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