Today at Saragossa, Aragon in Spain, I gave the concluding address to the fourth International Pro-Life Congress (which you can find in full here in English, Spanish and Italian). I congratulated the Spanish bishops and people for their defence of human life, of marriage and of parents as the primary educators of their children. I said, however, that a third world war had begun on unborn children and against parents as the primary educators of their children. Both the Spanish and British prime ministers had promoted the lie that pro-life people wanted to impose religious beliefs on society. We actually represented humanity’s consensus on the right to life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights said the right to life extends to “all members of the human family”. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child said: “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”.
Wellington Webb, President Obama's adviser to the US mission to the United Nations, had said that America would promote legalised abortion throughout the world. Mrs Clinton, secretary of state, has said that, when her government speaks of reproductive health, it includes access to abortion.
I warned that on Friday (13 November) Mrs Christine McCafferty, Labour MP for Calder Valley, would be promoting abortion on demand in the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly. I urged congress delegates to email members of the assembly's social, health and family affairs committee about Mrs McCafferty’s pro-abortion report which is called Fifteen years since the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action.
Archbishop Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, had reinforced the attack upon Archbishop Sobrinho of Recife who had upheld the right to life of two unborn babies. A sustained pro-life reaction to this scandalous situation had resulted in the publication of a document from the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith correcting Archbishop Fisichella's article.
The British government had a policy of providing access to abortion and birth control for children under 16 without parental knowledge or consent yet the Universal Declaration of Human Rights said: "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State." It described parents as the primary educators of their children.
Birth control and abortion referral were being provided to children at British schools, including Catholic schools, under the age of 16 without parental knowledge or consent. This was happening with the co-operation of the Catholic authorities. At one Catholic school a nurse used a plastic model to show children how to put on a condom. The pupils were then given a card explaining where to get free contraceptives and morning-after pills, as well as giving address of a website which helps you get abortions. Catholic church leaders in England and Wales were also prepared to refer homosexual couples to other adoption agencies.
I told the congress: "Our crisis began with the rejection of Humanae Vitae. It will end with its acceptance and implementation." This restoration could only come about with a radical change in the policy for nominating Catholic bishops in Europe. Rome should only appoint men to the episcopate who had a sustained and genuine track record of fidelity to the teachings of the Magisterium on the transmission of human life (Humanae Vitae) and on life. The present situation was costing too many babies' lives.
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