AMERICA/URUGUAY - The President's veto considered as “a true lesson for all politicians on the defense of life”

Montevideo (Agenzia Fides) - “A true lesson for Latin America.” Those were the words used by Fabiola Morales, Vice-President of the Peruvian Congress, in describing the veto signed by Uruguay's President Tabare Vasquez, on the bill for Sexual Health and Reproduction that sought to legalize abortion in the country (see Fides 14/11/2008). In fact, according to the Vice-President of the Peruvian Congress, “making use of the faculty awarded him by the Constitution, Vasquez stood up against the enormous pressure of his own party, that had unanimously approved the motion.” The Vice-President recalled that “since his election in 2005, Vasquez had announced on several occasions that he would veto whatever law approved abortion. In March 2006, he even threatened to dissolve the legislative bodies if they insisted on this proposal.” Thus, “just a few months from the end of his term and without any sure support for an eventual chance of reelection, the pro-abortion groups thought that Vasquez would be more susceptible to pressures and would finally back down, the exact opposite of what happened.
Fabiola Morales points out his “coherence and haste in vetoing the bill,” which are “sufficient attributes for showing an action of clear policy-making (which is scarcely found nowadays).” Furthermore, “the veto...is a true lesson for politicians on the defense of life.”
Bishop Pablo Galimberti of Salto says that the President's gesture “is hopeful.” “It is a 'yes' to life from its first moments, a 'yes' to the children who will be born thanks to this gesture, a 'yes' to the mothers that will better live their responsibility in carrying their child to term.”
“When human life is despised, manipulates, and marketed,” the Bishop said, “the reaffirmation of the innate right to be born, is prophetic. And the fact that there are biological, scientific, and philosophical reasons linked to it, is something to be admired in times of confusion.” Thus, “protecting the life of the most vulnerable has become a reality.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 19/11/2008)