A move to soften tough abortion laws in mainly Catholic East Timor is stirring opposition from the powerful Church.
Activists are backing a proposed law that would loosen the country’s blanket ban and allow abortions for women whose lives are in danger. But Church leaders have refused to drop their objections that the bill, scheduled to be voted on by parliament next month, violates basic religious teachings.
“The Church is opposing this because they always see abortion as a crime,” said Filomena Barros dos Reis from the Alola Foundation women’s rights group.
East Timor’s current law, which was copied from Indonesia’s criminal code during the country’s 24-year occupation, bans abortion in all cases.
The new bill contains stiff jail terms of between two and eight years for abortionists and women who get abortions. It would also not allow abortions in the case of rape or incest.
But dos Reis said she has told Church leaders that allowing abortions in the case of potentially fatal health problems would save lives.
“We still have a lot of pros and cons because the community of Timor-Leste, they still trust the Church ... so we are still discussing with the Church,” she said, using the country’s official name.
Justice Minister Lucia Lobato said last week that the proposed law would not significantly liberalise the government’s strongly anti-abortion stance.
“The general principle is that abortion is a crime,” she said. “So a mother or a pregnant woman who gets an abortion, consciously or unconsciously, it’s still a crime and it has to be processed legally so punishment can be made.”
The one exception, she said, was if a doctor certified that the pregnancy was a threat to the mother’s life.
This has proven too much for the Catholic Church.
“In principle, the Church worldwide doesn’t agree with abortion under any conditions because we have the technology to protect mothers, such as transplants,” Pastor Martinho Gusmao said in an interview last week.
Impoverished East Timor, which gained independence in 2002 after more than two decades of Indonesian occupation, has the world’s highest fertility rate, with the average woman giving birth to eight children, says the UN.
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen on Monday met virtually with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) and raised concerns about “malicious cyber activity” carried out by Chinese state-sponsored actors, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement. The department last month reported that an unspecified number of its computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers in what it called a “major incident” following a breach at contractor BeyondTrust, which provides cybersecurity services. US Congressional aides said no date had been set yet for a requested briefing on the breach, the latest in a serious of cyberattacks
RSS