S
St_Francis
Guest
The child was fine. She had been fairly normal in her health and behavior up until she complained of “pain” (unspecified as to amount or severity) in her stomach area, at which point her mother took her to the doctor where it was discovered that she was pregnant.
She was examined *and released. *The doctors who evaluated her diagnosed her as doing fine with her pregnancy. Brazil has a very strong pre-natal program established esp for poor women.
The bishops declared the excommunication for several reasons, in part because the bishops were convinced that the disclosure of this therapeutic penalty (the excommunication) will do much good to many Catholics, making them avoid this grievous sin. The silence of the Church would be very prejudicial, especially considering that fifty million abortions are being performed every year around the world, and in Brazil alone one million innocent lives are ended. The silence may be interpreted as collusion or complicity.
The rules regarding excommunication were announced the day before the abortion in the hope that the abortion would not take place: We then came up with the desperate idea that, if the press were to disclose the strange removal of the child from the IMIP to an undisclosed location, perhaps the Curumim Group or the doctors dealing with the case would realise what they were doing and heed the Church’s appeal to refrain from carrying out the abortion. For us, that night, the press was the only option left to us to issue a final cry for help in favour of the babies who were about to be murdered.
Once we had contacted the local press (newspapers and television), teams of reporters showed up at the Archbishop’s residence. He told them of the events which had occurred and quoted canon law, to the effect that persons performing or co-operating in an abortion would incur automatic excommunication (Canon 1398). It was almost midnight.
The parents were isolated by social services staff and pressured into consenting to an abortion, despite the fact that the center from which the child had been transferred said that the girl and her two babies were in fine health.
The situation in Brazil is that abortion is legal in cases where the health of the mother is endangered, or in cases of rape or incest. However, there are people working to expand the legality of abortion, and they use cases like this to gain support among the Brazilian people.
She was examined *and released. *The doctors who evaluated her diagnosed her as doing fine with her pregnancy. Brazil has a very strong pre-natal program established esp for poor women.
The bishops declared the excommunication for several reasons, in part because the bishops were convinced that the disclosure of this therapeutic penalty (the excommunication) will do much good to many Catholics, making them avoid this grievous sin. The silence of the Church would be very prejudicial, especially considering that fifty million abortions are being performed every year around the world, and in Brazil alone one million innocent lives are ended. The silence may be interpreted as collusion or complicity.
The rules regarding excommunication were announced the day before the abortion in the hope that the abortion would not take place: We then came up with the desperate idea that, if the press were to disclose the strange removal of the child from the IMIP to an undisclosed location, perhaps the Curumim Group or the doctors dealing with the case would realise what they were doing and heed the Church’s appeal to refrain from carrying out the abortion. For us, that night, the press was the only option left to us to issue a final cry for help in favour of the babies who were about to be murdered.
Once we had contacted the local press (newspapers and television), teams of reporters showed up at the Archbishop’s residence. He told them of the events which had occurred and quoted canon law, to the effect that persons performing or co-operating in an abortion would incur automatic excommunication (Canon 1398). It was almost midnight.
The parents were isolated by social services staff and pressured into consenting to an abortion, despite the fact that the center from which the child had been transferred said that the girl and her two babies were in fine health.
The situation in Brazil is that abortion is legal in cases where the health of the mother is endangered, or in cases of rape or incest. However, there are people working to expand the legality of abortion, and they use cases like this to gain support among the Brazilian people.