Posted on 08/30/2006 3:19:02 PM PDT by Stone Mountain
Cardinal Warns About Colombia Abortion
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A leading cardinal said the Vatican will excommunicate the doctors who performed Colombia's first legal abortion on an 11-year old girl who allegedly was raped by her stepfather.
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, made the announcement in an interview with RCN television Tuesday.
''Every Christian Catholic who submits to an abortion, whether it be directly or indirectly, will be excommunicated,'' Lopez said.
It was not immediately clear if he also was referring to the girl and her family.
[... cut to excerpt]
The secretary of Colombia's Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Fabian Marulanda, said he doubted that the Vatican would take the formal steps of excommunicating the doctors, but that the doctors should consider themselves excommunicated until they submit to penance.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Don't be so sure. I actually saw a post here on FR from someone who said that a scenario like this could happen because "God REALLY wants this girl to become a mother". He was raked over the coals by some other posters, but that sentiment is out there on this site, believe me.
I guess we'll just have to disagree.
Counted from conception? (Duck'n & run'n)
Was it born yet?
Sorry, I have no problem with this. An eleven year old girl should not be forced into this. The memory of the abortion will fade but the child would have been a constant reminder of the horror imposed on her.
Well, that might kill her. She's eleven.
Aborting mothers have problems too, such as wondering about the child that would have been but she had its life stopped. There are stories of hearing phantom cries in the night and the like. Was some effort made to let the girl know ALL the possibilities?
"So by your logic"
Just a minute. Get one thing straight. This is not "my logic." This is a position that has been widely held throughout Western Civilization for a couple of thousand years. That's what you're arguing against; not just some faceless turkey on the internet.
"if continuing a pregancy would likely be fatal to a woman, she should be forced to do so anyway?"
Tendentiously phrased, wouldn't you say? "Forced," as though to say "Of course she would kill her baby to save herself."
So what's your answer?
For thousands of years an abortion wasn't possible without seriously sickening and likely killing the mother. Usual approach for barbarians was to strangle the child as it emerged. (Now we use scissors, I guess that's better.)
"Was it born yet?"
What happens at birth? Does the blue fairy appear, wave her magic want, and turn a "fetus" into a real baby?
Life begins at conception.
"The memory of the abortion will fade"
It's more likely to cause mental illness than to fade.
"but the child would have been a constant reminder of the horror imposed on her."
She could give it up for adoption.
At her age, the parents had the responsibility of making the decision they felt was right for her. Would you want the same right to make decisions you feel to be right, for your child?
I think you would.
Let me amend "parents" to "mother", since obviously the other "parent" was the source of the problem, here.
"So what's your answer?"
My answer is that I don't feel like playing silly games.
There is no simple yes or no answer to a question that difficult. However, such cases are one in a million.
For the vast majority of cases, the answer is much easier.
I wouldn't wish it on a girl for anything less than to prevent the girl's own fatality.
Maybe what we really disagree on is how difficult this girl's case is. I don't think it's nearly as clear cut as you apparently do.
The excuse of the crypto rapists.
Was the stepfather removed from the girl's family life? I am overtired, but I read the article specifically looking for that information and did not find it.
It appears that you are backing away from this position.
Was the stepfather removed? I couldn't find that in the story. How can she be a little girl again if he's still somewhere in her family life?
I read the same story, so I only know as much as you do. :-\
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