Vatican City
Reuters
The Vatican’s Academy for Life on Friday praised the US Supreme Court’s decision on abortion, saying it challenged the world to reflect on life issues, but also called for social changes to help women keep their children.
The Vatican department also said in a statement that the defence of human life could not be confined to individual rights because life is a matter of “broad social significance”.
Pope Francis attends the funeral of former Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, at St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, on 31st May. PICTURE: Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane
The US Supreme Court on Friday took the dramatic step of overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that recognised a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion and legalized it nationwide.
“The fact that a large country with a long democratic tradition has changed its position on this issue also challenges the whole world,” the academy said in a statement.
US President Joe Biden, a lifelong Catholic, condemned the ruling, calling it a “sad day” for America and labelling the court’s conservatives “extreme”.
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who heads the Pontifical Academy for Life, said the court’s decision was a “powerful invitation to reflect” on the issue at a time when Western society “is losing passion for life”.
“By choosing life, our responsibility for the future of humanity is at stake,” Paglia said.
The Roman Catholic church teaches that abortion is murder because life begins at the moment of conception and ends with natural death.
Pope Francis has compared having an abortion to “hiring a hit man” to eliminate a problematic person.
The academy statement also called for changes in social conditions to make it easier to defend life in all its stages.
“This also means ensuring adequate sexual education, guaranteeing health care accessible to all and preparing legislative measures to protect the family and motherhood, overcoming existing inequalities,” it said.
“We need solid assistance to mothers, couples and the unborn child that involve the whole community, encouraging the possibility for mothers in difficulty to carry on with the pregnancy and to entrust the child to those who can guarantee the child’s growth,” it said.
Meanwhile, numerous world leaders have issued statements following the decision.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said restricting abortion access does not stop people seeking the procedure “it only makes it more deadly”.
“Sexual and reproductive health and rights are the foundation of a life of choice, empowerment and equality for the world’s women and girls,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. “Restricting access to abortion does not prevent people from seeking abortion, it only makes it more deadly.”
In Canada,
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the decision as “horrific” and he said he sympathised with women “set to lose their legal right to an abortion.”
“The news coming out of the United States is horrific. My heart goes out to the millions of American women who are now set to lose their legal right to an abortion,” Trudeau said on Twitter.
“No government, politician, or man should tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that abortion was a fundamental right for women.
“Abortion is a fundamental right for all women. We must protect it. I would like to express my solidarity with all those women whose freedoms have today been compromised by the US Supreme Court,” wrote Macron on his Twitter account.
– With MICHELLE NICHOLS, SUDIP KAR-GUPTA and ISMAIL SHAKIL
