AMERICA/URUGUAY - Uruguayan Parliament votes on the law on reproductive health, with the partial decriminalization of abortion; Archbishop of Montevideo says “it is not a matter of religious beliefs, but of fundamental human and ethical values.”

Montevideo (Agenzia Fides) – The House of Representatives of the Uruguayan Parliament will vote today (November 4) on the eventual decriminalization of abortion, now that the bill has been passed by the Senate. In the Senate, it was presented twice: on October 17, 2007 (negative) and on November 6, 2007, when it was passed. The House of Representatives will now have to vote on the law regarding reproductive health, which contains this clause on the partial decriminalization of abortion and that has been the cause of a heated debate in the country. The draft bill is supported by the party in power, the left-wing “Frente Amplio,” who defends the legal reform bill, although there are several members of the party who have expressed their disapproval. However, the country's President Tabare Vazquez, has indicated on various occasions that he would veto the law if it were passed, given his negative stance on abortion. Both anti and pro-abortion activists will be taking action today. Among them is the National Pro-Life Coalition, which will hold a march in protest of the bill.
In the midst of this debate, Archbishop Nicholas Cotugno of Montevideo has mentioned that according to Canon Law, “all who vote in favor of or support or promote abortion are automatically excommunicated. And this excommunication, according to Canon Law, takes effect immediately.”
The Archbishop affirms that “it is not a matter of religious beliefs. It is a natural reality that does not come from ideological or cultural tendencies, but from natural principals that proceed from the very nature of the human person.” Thus, Archbishop Cotugno questions as to what would occur “if we cut ourselves off from the common denominator of human nature...What universal reference would their be in humanity to guarantee our human rights? What human right is more important than that of birth and life? How can another human being decide: 'You cannot live; you do not have the right to be born, you must die?”
The Archbishop of Montevideo sees it as a matter of human values that “precede human reason and freedom” and, therefore, cannot be put to a vote. They are fundamental ethical values that should be supported with strength, as the Prelate says, “to emerge from this great crisis in our age, which is not only one of money or ports that open or close, but is an anthropological crisis that leads to the consequences that we are all witnessing on a daily basis: violence, drugs that destroy lives.”
Bishop Pablo Galimberti of Salto explained that the possibility of excommunicating the lawmakers will be discussed in the upcoming assembly of the country's Bishops' Conference, which begins on November 5. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 4/11/2008)