Saturday, March 21, 2009

Food for Thought

Feeling Cheeky. Want to poke a little sister in the eye.

And since the Pope has gone around Africa de-campaigning Condoms, I am posting this, though it seems to have passed the 'sell by date', in the news cartegory. But it still is something momentous, isnt it?

(PS, came accross a website where Ssempa was praising the Pope's statement. Laughed. Religion is all about the politics of living!)

gug

Rape row sparks excommunications

By Gary Duffy

BBC News, Sao Paulo

A Brazilian archbishop says all those who helped a child rape victim secure an abortion are to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church. The girl, aged nine, who lives in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco, became pregnant with twins. It is alleged that she had been sexually assaulted over a number of years by her stepfather.

The excommunication applies to the child's mother and the doctors involved in the procedure.

The pregnancy was terminated on Wednesday.

Abortion is only permitted in Brazil in cases of rape and where the mother's life is at risk and doctors say the girl's case met both these conditions. Police believe that the girl at the centre of the case had been sexually abused by her step-father since she was six years old.

The fact that she was pregnant with twins was only discovered after she was taken to hospital in Pernambuco complaining of stomach pains.

Her stepfather was arrested last week, allegedly as he tried to escape to another region of the country. He is also suspected of abusing the girl's physically handicapped older sister who is now 14.

Intervention bid

The Catholic Church tried to intervene to prevent the abortion going ahead but the procedure was carried out on Wednesday. Now a Church spokesman says all those involved, including the child's mother and the doctors, are to be excommunicated. The Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, told Brazil's TV Globo that the law of God was above any human law.

He said the excommunication would not apply to the child because of her age, but would affect all those who ensured the abortion was carried out.

However, doctors at the hospital said they had to take account of the welfare of the girl, and that she was so small that her uterus did not have the ability to contain one child let alone two.

While the action of the Church in opposing an abortion for a young rape victim is not unprecedented, it has attracted criticism from women's rights groups in Brazil.

Ideals outside reality. Food for thought.

Vatican backs abortion row bishop

Cardinal Re said the attack on Brazil's Catholic Church was unjustified. A senior Vatican cleric has defended the excommunication in Brazil of the mother and doctors of a young girl who had an abortion with their help.

The nine-year-old had conceived twins after alleged abuse by her stepfather. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re told Italian paper La Stampa that the twins "had the right to live" and attacks on Brazil's Catholic Church were unfair. It comes a day after Brazil's president criticised the Brazilian archbishop who excommunicated the people involved. Brazil only permits abortions in cases of rape or health risks to the mother.

Doctors said the girl's case met both these conditions, but the Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho said the law of God was above any human law. He said the excommunication would apply to the child's mother and the doctors, but not to the girl because of her age.

'Sad case'

Cardinal Re, who heads the Roman Catholic Church's Congregation for Bishops and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, told La Stampa that the archbishop had been right to excommunicate the mother and doctors. Life must always be protected, the attack on the Brazilian Church is unjustified "It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated," he said.

"Life must always be protected, the attack on the Brazilian Church is unjustified."

The abortion was carried out on Wednesday.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, himself a Catholic, said on Friday that he regretted what he described as the cleric's deeply conservative attitude. "The doctors did what had to be done: save the life of a girl of nine years old," he said. The girl, who lives in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco, was allegedly sexually assaulted over a number of years by her stepfather, possibly since she was six. The fact that she was four months' pregnant with twins was only discovered after she was taken to hospital in Pernambuco complaining of stomach pains. Her stepfather was arrested last week, allegedly as he tried to escape to another region of the country. He is also suspected of abusing the girl's physically handicapped 14-year-old sister.

I will be very cruel. Food for thought, for my idealistic big lil sis. Food for thought.

This only works if you are not afraid to think. Or afraid not to think outside the box. Interesting. Because, in this day and age, it is important to notice that people do believe, and strongly.

Sad case? Not realy. Eye opening reality. When we 'idealists' become more cruel than the devil, all in the name of god. Or our ideals. Food for thought.

gug

3 comments:

Princess said...

There's no grey area for me, bro. It is black and white. Black: the little girl's womb was too small to contain the two babies. White: she was raped, and she was 9 years old.
Abortion was the right course of action. I fail to reconcile myself with the mother's ignorance of what was going on under her own roof though. I suppose I should congratulate her for pushing on with the abortion anyway. She will have trouble forgiving herself, I am sure.

As for the Catholic church? Those pompous assholes who call themselves messengers of God were not molested at age six, nor were their daughters. Common sense says that the life that already exists should be protected at all costs. What is this foolish, flimsy excuse about the twins, "having a right to live"? Are the unborn to take precedence over the living?
Why should the little girl die, in order to mother barely formed creatures?

When it comes down to it, we decide what happens in a given situation by basing on what we call our 'priorities.' And those Bishops had it wrong. God's law supports life, the little girl's life. Was she to martyr herself for an ideal? No.

*Thank you for the lesson, gug. But then again my mind was made up the instant I saw that it was an abortion for medical reasons, and it was a 9 year old girl. It is a lot harder to make allowances for women who are well aware of the consequences when they have sex. If they are woman enough to make the baby, they should be woman enough to keep the baby!

I cannot take the high ground when it comes to rape victims though, older or no. I do not know what I would do in their shoes.

Princess said...

Yes, it has been a while. Hi!

gayuganda said...

Wow!!!!!!!!!

What happened to my lil sis and replaced her with this paragon of logic?

She used to be questioning, cautious, not opinionated and so ready to fling her opinion around. Is that what happens after a few months at that university of yours?????

Will I recognise you when you come back?

Wow indeed!

I cannot dare add to your comments!

and yes, it has been a while.

gug

Post a Comment