March 07, 2014 - A Spanish bishop has issued a pastoral letter on abortion that
answers questions and encourages open discussion on the issue. “We cannot accept
4000 abortions each year in the Basque Country,” said Bishop Jose Ignacio Munilla
of San Sebastian. In his letter – which he presented to Pope Francis during the
ad limina visit to the Vatican – the Spanish bishop responded to specific questions
about abortion and invited readers to get past the political debate and pursue instead
a free and moral debate, because “the cause of life is pre-political and is above
any ideology.”
Bishop Munilla underscored the scientific certainty that human
life begins at conception. He rejected the argument defending abortion as a woman's
right to choose, noting that behind every abortion there is always poverty, loneliness,
pressure from family members, or other factors. “Abortion is not a cause for women
because women who are heading for an abortion are often subjected to male chauvinist
pressure,” Bishop Munilla stated, adding that for this reason, women are the second
victims of abortion. Bishop Munilla called on society to become fully engaged in
ending the tragedy of abortion and offering help and assistance to women at risk for
abortion. The Mirian Center in the Diocese of San Sebastian, which has been reaching
out to women in troubled pregnancies over the last year, is an example of such service,
he said. “Let's not allow our biases to keep us from thinking, feeling and confronting
the tragedy of abortion head on, and let us have a real debate that is free of these
biases,” he said. (Source: CNA)