Archbishop Tomasi: diverting funds for abortion and contraception "totally unacceptable"
The Holy See has condemned as totally unacceptable any attempts to divert funding
for genuine health care in favour of programmes that provide or facilitate contraceptives
and abortion. The Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Specialized
Agencies in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi made the remark yesterday in a statement
he delivered to the 18th Session of the Human Rights Council. Archbishop
Tomasi’s statement outlined the position of the Holy See regarding the need for a
human rights-based approach to eliminate preventable maternal mortality. The Permanent
Observer noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) has demonstrated that women
in Africa die primarily from five major causes: hypertensive diseases, obstructed
labour, haemorrhage, sepsis and infection, and HIV-related diseases.
He went
on to say that the interventions known to address such medical crises include training
and employment of skilled birth attendants, provision of antibiotics and uterotonic
medications, and improvement of blood banking. He said the Delegation of the Holy
See finds totally unacceptable any attempts to divert much-needed financial resources
from those effective and life-saving interventions to increased programmes of contraception
and abortion, which aim at limiting procreation of new life or at destroying the life
of a child. Archbishop Tomasi concluded saying, “the Holy See Delegation expresses
the firm hope that the international community will succeed in reducing maternal morbidity
and mortality by promoting effective interventions that are based on deep and abiding
values as well as on scientific and medical knowledge and that are respectful of the
sacredness of life from conception to natural death. Listen