First Lady of Colombia Favors Decriminalization
of Abortion

For Immediate Release - October 20, 2005
Contact: Mrs. Magaly Llaguno, Executive Director, VHI
305.260.0525. Fax: 305.260.0595
E-mail: vhi@vidahumana.org »

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Miami, FL, USA - Colombia is in danger of legalizing abortion. That possibility has increased even more because of the First Lady’s public support for decriminalization.

Mrs. Lina Moreno de Uribe made her pro-abortion statements in an interview last October 16 with El Tiempo, the major newspaper of Colombia. When asked if she would favor the decriminalization of abortion, she said: “Yes”. Previously, the First Lady was asked if decriminalizing abortion was the same thing as legalizing it and she answered: “No, they are two completely different things. To legalize it is to open the door, to give permission to abort in any circumstance, without special conditions and for any reason. To decriminalize it, on the other hand, makes reference to special circumstances, such as rape, the medical indication that the baby will die after birth and the possible danger to the life of the mother.”

Mrs. de Uribe’s statement presents a very great contradiction. On the one hand, she recognizes that the being inside the mother is a “baby”; that is to say, a human being. But immediately after that, she says that abortion, the act by means of which that innocent human being is killed, should not be penalized. It seems the First Lady does not realize that a human being continues to be human, no matter what circumstances (for example rape), were present at the time of his or her conception. Instead, she proposes that the product of a rape be killed, even though that unborn baby is as innocent as his or her mother. The First Lady made absolutely no comment about the rapist, the one whom the law should punish with imprisonment.

Mrs. de Uribe also seems to ignore the fact that when the mother’s life is in danger, medical science can save both the mother and her unborn child, in almost every case. Doctors should always do everything in their power to save both without ever making recourse to the abominable crime of abortion. In those rare cases when the unborn child dies as an indirect and unwanted result of a medical intervention, that’s not a direct abortion, but, technically speaking, and indirect one; something that has never been punished by law or imputed by ethics. There is no reason at all, medical or ethical, that could ever justify induced abortion. There is no justification at all to decriminalize abortion in those cases or in any other, or to legalize it, which is really the same thing.

In addition to that, Mrs. de Uribe seems not to realize that once you open a door to the abortion monster, no matter how small, society falls in an ever ascending spiral of death, which is very difficult to revert later. The so-called legal “exceptions” to the prohibition of abortion, always expand into abortion on demand.

It is absolutely shameful that a First Lady has such an attitude of indifference towards unborn babies. The only time during the whole interview in which she mentioned the word “baby” (in addition to the one cited above), was to refer to the "tragic fact" that there are so many “unwanted babies” being born. But such a tragedy is not a problem caused by those babies, but by those who do not want them. Not once during the entire interview did Mrs. de Uribe defend the lives of unborn babies. If the issue were the children victimized by street violence, dying from poverty and hunger, or women dying because of domestic violence; then surely she would have decried those crimes without any ambiguity or evasiveness. But it seems that the First Lady does not realize that abortion cruelly kills an innocent human being and also harms his or her mother physically and emotionally.

Martha Sáiz de Rueda, President of Fundación Cultura de la Vida Humana, VHI affiliate in Colombia, stated: “It has caused us great sorrow to learn about the stand that Mrs. Moreno de Uribe has, where it concerns human life. The lack of respect for human life she has shown in her frivolous statements is very harmful for Colombia, for the President, for our Colombian unborn children and for our culture. Moreover, those statements are in direct contradiction with her supposed desire to please children with toys and wigs during the Month of Children in Colombia.”

The senseless comments of Mrs. de Uribe have increased the possibility of abortion legalization in Colombia. For that reason, VHI has no other alternative, despite the respect owed to her as a person and as a First Lady, but to condemn her statements in the strongest terms possible, for the sake of Colombian unborn children and their mothers.

Please, let us all pray for the First Lady, for the President, for Colombia; and especially for the members of the Colombian Supreme Court, in whose hands lies the future of millions of unborn Colombian babies.

This press release is also available in Spanish. For more information on the attempt to legalize abortion in Colombia please read : "Massive anti-life attack on Colombia", in Vida Humana Internacional's website:

http://www.vidahumana.org/english/index.html.