July 20, 2010

Editor's note. My family is on vacation. While we are gone I'll be running some new stories and past articles that you've indicated you liked. Dave

Spain's Constitutional Court decided July 14 not to suspend the new abortion-on-demand law while it hears a challenge filed by the conservative Popular Party, the Associated Press reported.

Spain now has legal abortion on demand up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, with abortions up to 22 weeks allowed for the mother's "health" or if the unborn baby has "serious problems," according to Agence France Presse.

Pro-lifers continue to voice opposition to the law, which also lets girls 16 and older to abort their babies without parental permission. Catholic Archbishop Francisco Gil Hellin of Burgos wrote a strongly worded letter calling on Spanish citizens to resist the law.

"Let's be clear: this law is not a law, although it is presented as such by some politicians and lawmakers," Archbishop Hellin wrote. "It is no law because nobody has the right to take the life of an innocent human being. For this reason it is not obligatory. Moreover, it demands direct opposition without distinction."

Hellin added that respect for all human life is not restricted to the Catholic Church or its members--that all people should defend the unborn. "The right of a person to exist who has already been conceived, although not yet born, is not a belief stemming from any religion," he wrote. "One does not need to be a believer to hold that an innocent person has the right to be defended and respected in his or her integrity. Common sense dictates that one cannot take a human life in order to solve another problem."

Part Two