AMERICA/ARGENTINA - Bishops warn against proposed sterilisation law, a “form di discrimination against the poor, which will not eliminate poverty, but only prevent the birth of children”

Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) - In view of a possibility that the Argentinean parliament may approve a Bill to grant free sterilisation treatment for poor people at state health centres the Catholics Bishops issued a statement "to clarify the position of the Church with regard to procedure which causes permanent damage, irreversible mutilation on people with little resources ".
The Bishops say mutilation of a healthy organ is not therapeutic and legalisation of this procedure violates the human right to bodily integrity falling in insuperable unconstitutionality".
“The plan is said to meet the needs of the poorest sectors of society" the statement says but in fact this is not true. This procedure " is a “form di discrimination against the poor, it does nothing to eliminate poverty and all it does is prevent the birth of children”. "Socio-economic difficulties call for social and economic not medical solutions" the Bishops say.
"The legislator has great social responsibility in the face of this decision, since the law would allow procedure which has permanent and lasting effects". The Bishops conclude with a call to all citizens to search for "solutions which are not mutilating, paths of solidarity and human promotion, which serve for the common good and the development of individuals and families respecting the dignity and integrity of the human person". (RG) (Agenzia Fides 30/6/2006, righe 19, parole 250)