As abortion is decriminalized in Jalisco, Mexican cardinal decries ‘murder of innocents’

Puebla, Mexico, Oct 10, 2024 / 14:50 pm

Cardinal Francisco Robles Ortega, archbishop of Guadalajara, the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, spoke out strongly against the recent decision of that state’s Legislature to decriminalize abortion up to 12 weeks of gestation, calling it the “murder of innocents.”

Following debate and a vote, the penal code of the state of Jalisco was amended Oct. 4 to make it the 11th Mexican state that decriminalizes abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Sinaloa state decriminalized abortion up to 13 weeks of pregnancy. In Coahuila, where the law related to how abortion is to be punished has been invalidated, clear limits have not yet been established.

The push for decriminalizing abortion in Mexico accelerated during the recently concluded six-year term of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. His party, the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA, by its Spanish acronym), took advantage of its large majority in many states to push for pro-abortion legislation.

‘It should be called what it is: murdering the innocent’

On social media, Robles charged Oct. 6 that both the governor and the legislators want to make people believe that if abortion is performed in the first 12 weeks, “nothing happens to the new being” and that it’s possible to “eliminate the fetus,” which they seek to normalize as a “legal right to terminate a pregnancy.”

However, the cardinal insisted that “it should be called what it is: murdering the innocent,” and emphasized that the work of legislators “should be focused on protecting life, not ending it.”

“One day they will stand before God and have to answer why they passed a law intended to destroy innocent lives, which is what abortion is,” the cardinal warned.

Governor asked to ‘stop this calamity’

The governor of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro, is expected to publish the reform in the state’s official newspaper in the next few days to make official the changes to the penal code, as he will not veto the law, according to declarations he made to the media.

ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, consulted the Archdiocese of Jalisco’s Life Ministry on the subject, which in a written response urged the governor to reconsider his decision, stating that “there is still time to stop this calamity, with the courage to not go down in history as the governor who supported a legislature [approving] of death.”

In a text sent to ACI Prensa, the ministry also emphasized the need for “the reasons that support the arguments of those of us who are in favor of life to be heard.”

The ministry also criticized that the state Legislature’s vote “does not reflect the opinion of the majority of people in the state of Jalisco.” However, the Life Ministry recognized and lamented that “the anti-culture of death has been gaining ground and has come to dominate the mentality of a representative portion of the population.”

The ministry also expressed its “disappointment and indignation” with the legislators who voted in favor of decriminalizing abortion, arguing that “they have betrayed the will of the majority of the people of Jalisco and have opened the door of the law to a genocide of unprecedented proportions.”

“This is a cowardly act that obeys vested interests and does nothing to contribute to the common good, as we have expressed on previous occasions,” the ministry said.

In addition, the archdiocesan Life Ministry has committed to combating the “evils destructive of humanity and of our youth” through evangelization and education.

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This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.