Catholic leaders in Mexico criticized lawmakers in the state of Veracruz on Tuesday for voting behind closed doors to legalize the killing of unborn babies in abortions.
The state in eastern Mexico became the fourth in the country to legalize the killing of unborn babies in abortions, voting 25-13 in favor of the pro-abortion legislation, Reuters reports.
According to the Catholic News Service, the new law allows unborn babies to be aborted for any reason up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and up to birth in cases of sexual assault. The MORENA party controls the state legislature.
Catholic Church leaders criticized lawmakers for rushing the bill through the legislature and then voting in secret during a closed-door session, according to the report.
Father José Manuel Suazo Reyes, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Xalapa, slammed the vote as “perverse.”
“They didn’t let anyone attend, the lawmakers were locked in there, and they did it all in the dark,” Reyes said.
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The Catholic bishops’ conference of Mexico also mourned the news, saying legalizing the killing of unborn babies only adds to the problems that Mexicans are facing.
“It constitutes a grave injustice, which allows an unacceptable wrong to be committed against another human being in its most vulnerable stage, when he requires greater protection, along with his mother,” the bishops said in a statement.
“… this permissive action on abortion leaves aside society’s more pressing concerns, especially related to the insecurity afflicting many parts of the country, the health needs of citizens (and) the urgency of many families to find employment,” they continued.
Veracruz is the fourth state to legalize abortion, after Mexico City, Oaxaca and Hildago, according to Reuters. However, 28 states in the country still protect unborn babies by banning abortions.
The country has been facing on-going violent protests by abortion activists as well as international pressure from the United Nations – and, likely under President Joe Biden, the United States — to legalize the killing of unborn babies in abortions throughout the country.
In April, federal leaders postponed voting on a bill to legalize abortions in Mexico, but pro-life advocates expect lawmakers will resurrect it.
Previously, Rodrigo Iván Cortés, president of the National Front for the Family, told ACI Prensa that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and other leaders of the National Regeneration Movement are the politicians who are pushing to legalize abortion nation-wide.
Pro-abortion groups, funded by some of the richest men in the world, are putting pressure on Mexico and other Central and South American countries to legalize the killing of unborn babies in abortions.
