Over 3.5 million Argentinians protest abortion bill

Thursday, May 24th, 2018

Over 3.5 million Argentinians have joined forces in 117 cities to protest against a bill to liberalise the country’s abortion laws.

The motto of the rally was “Protect them both,” meaning the mother and the unborn child.

Catholics – as well as Evangelicals, atheists and others marched together to make their views known.

Most of the speakers against the bill have been laity from various religious backgrounds.

If passed into law, the bill will allow women to have an abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Currently, abortion is illegal unless the mother has been raped or her health is at risk.

This was the second pro-life rally in Argentina.

Although President Mauricio Macri says he is pro-life, he has allowed the ongoing debate to take place.

He says he will not veto the law if it were to pass through Congress.

In Buenos Aires, organisers read a statement asking legislators of both the government and the opposition to categorically reject the proposed bill.

“We rally because we want to protect both lives since, whether it’s done at the mother’s request or not, abortion causes the woman and those around her irreparable damage, becoming an attack against society’s common good,” the statement said.

Organisers said that behind the problem of abortion there are “difficult and painful situations, of violence, marginalisation, poverty, lack of formation, loneliness and abandonment; but our most intimate conviction is that abortion is never the solution.”

Catholic Bishop Pedro Laxague of Zarate-Campana said: “As representatives of different faiths in favour of both lives, we recognise human life as a gift from God, as a miracle that begins at conception,” he said.

Source