Pro-Life News: Abortion in Dominican Republic, Brazil, Portugal, Pennsylvania 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 28, 2007
Dominican Republic Catholic Church Continues Campaign Against Abortion
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (LifeNews.com) — The Catholic church began a new campaign to oppose an effort there to legalize abortions. Their activities include a long pro-life walk in Santo Domingo West to protest a bill aimed at modifying the Penal Code to legalize abortion. They also include the collection of one million signatures and a waving of banners by catholic school students and teachers around the country. Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez will also speak to the country on radio and television, on what the church says is the gravity of legalizing abortion. Catholic Church leaders have said President Leonel Fernandez needs to weigh in on the abortion debate taking place there. The nation has become the latest abortion battleground in the region and its legislature has held two hearings on a measure to make abortion legal and plans to discuss it a third time. Abortion advocates are continuing the campaign to get the Latin American nation to reform its penal code and legalize abortion. They are making the nation their next target after getting Mexico City to legalize abortions there. The proposal by several pro-abortion groups to legalize so-called therapeutic abortions has resulted in intense debate. Abortion is currently illegal for any reason in the nation and those who do abortions face anywhere from six months to two years in prison for causing them.
Portugal Government Wants to Force Doctors to Do Abortions
Lisbon, Portugal (LifeNews.com) — Portugal’s Minister of Health, Antonio Correia de Campos, has notified the Portuguese Association of Doctors that it should eliminate the ability of doctors to opt out of doing abortions now that the nation has legalized abortion. The Portuguese Socialist government, which legalized abortion despite losing a referendum on the issue, announced that the demand for the change in the Associations’ code of ethics would be supervised by the Attorney General and should be carried out in the next thirty days. The Association’s code of ethics states, “Doctors should maintain respect for human life from its beginnings,” and, “The practice of abortion constitutes a serious ethical failing.” The College of Lawyers of Portugal has called the demand “arrogant and excessive" and points out that the nation’s Constitution still protects human life. In October, a leading health official said the western European nation is seeing less than half of the number of abortions done there as expected when it recently legalized abortion. Currently about 25 abortions are done on a daily basis there, which averages out to about 9,000 abortions over the course of a year. About 20,000 abortions were expected to be done annually after the nation’s parliament legalized abortion despite a public vote failing to do so.
Brazil Leader Claims Abortions Can Cut Crime Despite Studies Refuting It
Brasilia, Brazil (LifeNews.com) — The governor of Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday said that making abortion legal could be a way to help contain violence in the crime and drugs-plagued city, one of the most dangerous places in Brazil. "The question of abortion has everything to do with public violence," Sergio Cabral said in an interview with the website G1. Cabral said rich women are able to get around the abortion ban by having them done in secret abortion centers. whereas women who live in Rio’s overpopulated and crime ridden slums do not have access to abortion. The comments come as the South American nation is debating whether or not to legalize abortion. However, studies have shown that abortion does not reduce crime. A study by a researcher at the University of Maryland shows that legalized abortion has led to higher rates of crime and increased murder rates. The occurred because a higher percentage of children grew up in single-parent homes during the years following Roe v. Wade. by a researcher at the University of Maryland shows that legalized abortion has led to higher rates of crime and increased murder rates. The occurred because a higher percentage of children grew up in single-parent homes during the years following Roe v. Wade. According to Lott, the high court’s decision ultimately resulted in more out-of-wedlock births, a reduction in the number of children adopted and fewer married parents.
Pennsylvania Judge Dismisses Abortion Protest Lawsuits Against York Police
York, PA (LifeNews.com) — A federal judge has thrown out three lawsuits filed against three York City police officers by pro-life protesters who claimed officers violated their rights during a protest at Planned Parenthood in York. U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III on Tuesday granted a motion requesting a summary judgment in favor of the officers. They were sued by the two protesters after they were arrested and one was threatened with arrest outside the South Beaver Street office. Edward Snell of Harrisburg sued in November 2004 incident in which he was arrested and cited with disorderly conduct for allegedly standing or lingering in Rose Avenue, a narrow alley behind Planned Parenthood. Snell also maintained another officer handcuffed him too tightly, according to court records. Snell was later found not guilty by District Judge Ronald Haskell Jr., but Haskell noted Snell was "right at the line" of disorderly conduct and didn’t fault the officer for the arrest.
