Peruvian Bishops decry approval of abortion for 11-year-old girl

By Vatican News staff reporter

"Let us not open the doors to the culture of death."

The Catholic Bishops of Peru have raised their voice in defense of life after a medical board approved an abortion for an 11-year-old girl.

In a press release, the Peruvian Bishops Conference upheld the Church’s teaching of the right to life for unborn children and the rights of the child’s mother.

“Faced with this act of injustice and violation of the right to life of an unborn child, we raise our voice in rejection of this unjust and indolent act,” said the Bishops.

They add that "the constant teaching of the Church, in these cases, is always to safeguard the right to life of both” mother and child.

Conflicting decisions

A Medical Board in the Peruvian region of Loreto had ruled that a so-called “therapeutic abortion” was not applicable, since it did not meet the necessary conditions, such as the danger of death or permanent damage to the pregnant mother.

However, another Medical Board in Lima overruled this decision and approved the abortion.

Right to life

In response, Peru’s Bishops insisted that life is “an absolute and inalienable right, because it is a divine gift, which God asks us to safeguard, as the fifth Commandment states: ‘You shall not kill’ (Ex 20:13).”

The Bishops pointed out that Peru’s Constitution and the Peruvian Code for Children and Adolescents says: “Every human being is considered a child from conception to the age of twelve... The State has the duty to protect the conceived child”.

On this basis, the Bishops affirm the government’s obligation—including the Ministry of Health—to employ modern obstetric resources to protect the life of the pregnant mother and the unborn child.

They lament that “for some years now there has been a sustained and growing pressure to decriminalize abortion.”

Culture of life versus death

The Bishops go on to urge civil authorities and healthcare personnel to uphold the culture of life and not “open the doors to the culture of death”.

Finally, Peru’s Bishops appeal that “little 'Mila' be adequately cared for, that she may be helped to heal from the wounds of rape, that she not be subjected to an abortion, and that the rapist be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and new abuses are avoided.”