Catholic Bishops of Ecuador Denounce Pro-Abortion Constitution

QUITO, August 6, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Ignoring government warnings not to "meddle" in Ecuadorian politics, the Catholic bishops of Ecuador have issued a clear denunciation of the nation’s pro-abortion new proposed constitution.

Declaring that the points raised in its statement are "non-negotiable", the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference lashes out at the document for permitting abortion, attacking the natural family of one man and one woman, and subverting parental rights to determine the education of their children.

The new constitution, say the bishops, "does not clearly recognize the right to life from conception. Without mentioning the word ‘abortion’, the proposed Constitution leaves the door open to the suppression of new life in the womb of the mother."

They also note that "in the context of ‘sexual and reproductive rights’," the text "acknowledges in every person the right to decide when and how many children ‘to have’ (this is understood even after they have procreated), assuming in this way the acceptance of abortion." The bishops add that the document "attacks the family as the fundamental unit of society and of the common good. The new Constitution diminishes the family when it rejects the existence of the model family to substitute it with different ‘types of family’. From there it goes to equate same-sex unions with the family."

The Ecuadorian publication El Universo is reporting that the Catholic bishops are preparing a full legal analysis of the new constitution, which will be published in two weeks. Evangelical Protestants are also preparing their own legal, moral, and Biblical analysis, which they say they will distribute to every church in the country.

Socialist President Rafael Correa denies bitterly that the constitution will deliver the country to a totalitarian system. He recently said that he would tell any clerics who said such a thing that "it’s a lie, and you have no right to do that, you are engaging in political activity, you are betraying your role as a pastor."

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FRONT ROYAL, Virginia, Aug. 8, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, STL, president of Human Life International, (HLI) today condemned death threats made against Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza and Amparo Medina, president of Ecuador’s Pro-Life Action Foundation.

Euteneuer said, "A ‘warning’ was sent to our colleague, Amparo Medina: a shoebox containing a dead rat and the message ‘death to pro-lifers’ with a longer letter placed at her door threatening to kill her." The threats result from their opposition to pro-abortion and anti-family language in the nation’s proposed new constitution.

In another incident, the severed head of a dog with a Eucharistic Host in its mouth was found in a Catholic chapel as a warning to clergy who dare to speak out. It is believed that this and similar actions were instigated by comments by Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa.

"Clearly," Euteneuer said, "These attempts at intimidation go beyond death threats to cruelty and blasphemy. Anyone who doubts the criminal, diabolical, nature of the international abortion lobby needs look no further. We categorically condemn any threats of violence against our affiliate, and we stand with the valiant priests and bishops in Ecuador who are bravely defending the right to life against systematic campaigns and intrusion from foreign influences trying to impose western pro-abortion values on Latin America.

"We call on President Correa to cease his attacks against the Church and on the people of Ecuador to reject this heinous constitution in the referendum on Sept 28th," Euteneuer said.