Catholic Church's Policies On Abortion, Condom Use 'Trump' Compassion, Editorial Says

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 27 Mar 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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It "seem[s] that church policy trumped not only effective public health measures but compassion" in two recent events regarding the Roman Catholic Church's views on abortion and condom use, a Los Angeles Times editorial states. In one case, a Brazilian archbishop excommunicated two doctors and the mother of a nine-year-old Brazilian girl after the doctors performed an abortion on the child, who was pregnant with twins as the result of allegedly being raped by her stepfather. In response to the controversy over the excommunication, the head of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops said "that the 'real problem' was abortion, not the endangered life of the girl," the editorial says. Then, "[j]ust days later, Pope Benedict XVI openly doubted the efficacy of condoms in halting HIV transmission" on his way to Africa, the editorial states.

The church's actions "suggested that the suffering of a young girl was of little concern compared with consistency on abortion," and Rome "ultimately ... acknowledged that the episode was badly handled," the editorial continues. Archbishop Rino Fisichella in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said the child "'should have been defended, hugged and held tenderly to help her feel that we were all on her side,'" the editorial notes. It adds that "Brazil is in a tussle with Rome over abortion, contraception and HIV/AIDS prevention, and sympathy for the girl's plight threatened to shift public sentiment away from church decree."

The editorial continues that Fisichella's "point ... was one of emphasis, not policy; the church, he lamented, seemed heartless." According to the editorial, "The haste and subsequent hue and cry, Fisichella wrote, 'impacted the credibility of our teaching, which appears in the eyes of many as insensitive, incomprehensible and devoid of mercy.'" The editorial concludes, "Well said. After all, the one person whose behavior did not expel him from the Catholic community was the girl's alleged rapist" (Los Angeles Times, 3/25).

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