Don’t cry for the unborn, Argentina

Argentina recently passed a historic bill legalizing its controversial abortion law. With the Senate vote of 38-29, the bill has become law on December 30, 2020.

The bill’s passing resulted in large-scale celebrations by pro-abortion activists who had long campaigned for it and huge disappointment of anti-abortion and pro-life groups.

Under the previous law, abortions were only allowed in the case of rape or when pregnancy carries serious risks for the mother’s life. This is a common practice in many countries in South America.

However, the recent abortion law legalized up to 14 weeks or over three months of pregnancy. At 14 weeks the baby is roughly the size of a nectarine or peach fruit. The average fetus weighs about 1.5 ounces and can measure up to 3.5 inches long, crown to rump.

Terminating the fetus at this stage is ruthless and inhumane. Depriving the unborn the right to live is unspeakable crime and evil. Anyone who performed the act or condoned it to happen will have a guilty conscience or no conscience at all.

What is the implication of such law in the county if there is any? The Philippines is like Argentina, it is a catholic country. In Argentina, Catholicism is the religion of the state. In the Philippines, the state has no religion but more than 86% of the population is Roman Catholic.

Article II, Section 12 of the Philippine Constitution says, in part. “It shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception.” Abortion is criminalized by Philippine law. Article 256, 258, and 259 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines mandate, imprisonment for women who undergo an abortion, as well as for any person who assists in the procedure.

A 1997 study estimated that, despite legal restrictions, in 1994 there were 400,000 abortions performed illegally in the Philippines and 80,000 hospitalizations of women for abortion-related complications. Around 70% of unwanted pregnancies in the Philippines end in abortion, according to the World Health Organization.

How about the case wherein abortion may be legally performed to save a pregnant woman’s life? It may be argued that abortion to save a mother’s life could be classified as justifying circumstances that would bar criminal prosecution under the Revised Penal Code.

For now there is not much pro-abortion activism in the country so we cannot face the same fate like that of Argentina. Our Christian values for life can still withstand the modern liberalism the world promotes. The life of the unborn child is as precious as our own. It is our civic duty and moral obligation to protect the life of the unborn.

Renester P. Suralta

Pardo

Cebu City