Abortion ruling shocks church
2004-05-31 22:12
Pretoria - The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) on Monday lashed out at the recent Pretoria High Court judgment allowing girls under 18 to legally have abortions without parental consent.
Last week the court dismissed the Christian Lawyers' Association's challenge to the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act.
"We live in a South Africa where God's injunction 'Thou shalt not kill' is being totally and deliberately ignored with regard to abortion," said SACBC spokesperson Archbishop Buti Tlhagale, who is also the Catholic Bishop of Johannesburg.
"The Pretoria judgment, by extending the 'right' to terminate pregnancy to females under 18 years of age, shifts the burden of responsibility to younger women as well.
"This judgment will lead to the weakening of individual consciences, especially of those of young people whose conscience formation is at a critical stage."
Tlhagale said the judgment would also seriously undermine the moral fibre of society.
"While South Africa speaks of a moral renewal of society, it strenuously seeks to exclude sexual morality and private lifestyles of people. Such an approach is doomed to reap the whirlwind.
"The judgment, we maintain, is a direct assault on the value of family as sanctuary of life.
"And we cannot rule out the question of complicity in the evil of abortion with regard to those who make such laws or those who encourage sexual permissiveness and ignore the esteem for motherhood."
- SAPA