Indian Cardinal Gracias appeals against abortion

(August,05,2008): Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, in India’s western State of Maharashtra has appealed to a couple to withdraw from seeking permission to abort their ill-healthy foetus, saying the Church would take care of the child, if allowed to be born. Niketa and Harshad Mehta filed a case at Bombay High Court, seeking permission to abort their foetus, which was 25 weeks old. Indian laws allow medical termination of pregnancy, only if the foetus is less than 20 weeks old, or if it threatens the life of the mother. The Mehta couple sought abortion because the foetus had blockages in the heart. The court had earlier ruled, that the medical report on which they based the case was not satisfying. And the court had ordered a special committee to give an additional opinion from another hospital.
The case gained attention because it was first time, someone sought legal permission for abortion considering the quality of foetus. As public discussions continued, the media reported on Sunday that Cardinal Gracias appealed against abortions altogether, and promised the Mehta couple that the Church would take care of the child, if allowed to be born. The Cardinal has been promoting the Church’s stand on the issue. In an interview in January, he opposed abortion as the part of a “culture of death” and endorsed a United Nations moratorium on abortion. "It is an utmost necessity that the international community is sensitized to creating and building a culture of life. Abortion is a horrendous evil, and has become a threat to human dignity because it directly attacks life itself,” Cardinal Gracias said in that interview.