“Legalizing the business of abortion is
pure foreign interest not national interest."
By Marie Smith, Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues
National Right to Life
National Right to Life
A pro-life victory occurred in El Salvador yesterday, one of the strongest pro-life countries in the world, as anticipated votes on two bills to change the criminal code to allow exceptions to abortion failed to materialize before Congress adjourned.
A new Congress begins May 1 under control of the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) which is expected to maintain protection of the unborn from the violence of abortion.
Pro-life advocates lobbied against an international effort to add exceptions to El Salvador’s ban on abortion. According to the New York Times
Pro-life leader Julia Regina de Cardenal, the president the Yes to Life Foundation who in the past was one of those responsible for the successful effort to amend the constitution to protect children in the womb, voiced strong opposition to international interference. She also called on the Attorney for the Defense of Human Rights, Raquel Caballero, to investigate the financing of organizations in El Salvador that were leading the effort to change the law to determine the level of outside influence.
Pro-life advocates argued that the vast majority of Salvadorans defend life from conception and that “Legalizing the business of abortion is pure foreign interest not national interest #sialavida #noalaborto #abortaresmatar”
The lead sponsor of one of the bills to change the law, Deputy Johnny Wright Sol, had narrowed his bill to allow exceptions for threats to the life and health of the mother and when pregnancy of a minor is the result of rape but he realized that his bill still did not have public support. Wright stated that the challenge would be “trying to generate public opinion,” and that legislators “need to feel the pressure from society.”
A new Congress begins May 1 under control of the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) which is expected to maintain protection of the unborn from the violence of abortion.
Pro-life advocates lobbied against an international effort to add exceptions to El Salvador’s ban on abortion. According to the New York Times
“What appeared to be momentum a few weeks ago in favor of relaxing the law was defeated by an alliance of social conservatives and religious organizations who succeeded in convincing legislators in the final days that their vote could have a political cost.”The so-called ‘momentum’ resulted in large part from media outreach and hype created by leading international pro-abortion activist organizations, including the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), Human Rights Watch, and Ipas which hoped the Salvadoran Congress would follow recent Chile’s lead and change its constitutional protection for unborn children to allow exceptions for abortion. It did not.
Pro-life leader Julia Regina de Cardenal, the president the Yes to Life Foundation who in the past was one of those responsible for the successful effort to amend the constitution to protect children in the womb, voiced strong opposition to international interference. She also called on the Attorney for the Defense of Human Rights, Raquel Caballero, to investigate the financing of organizations in El Salvador that were leading the effort to change the law to determine the level of outside influence.
Pro-life advocates argued that the vast majority of Salvadorans defend life from conception and that “Legalizing the business of abortion is pure foreign interest not national interest #sialavida #noalaborto #abortaresmatar”
The lead sponsor of one of the bills to change the law, Deputy Johnny Wright Sol, had narrowed his bill to allow exceptions for threats to the life and health of the mother and when pregnancy of a minor is the result of rape but he realized that his bill still did not have public support. Wright stated that the challenge would be “trying to generate public opinion,” and that legislators “need to feel the pressure from society.”
