Is support for family planning programs that allow for

abortion the same as promoting the procedure? Many

people in and out of the United States think it is, and so

oppose President Obama's policy of allowing federal funds

to pay for abortion.

Siglo Vientiuno, Guatemala

Will Obama Release 'Avalanche of Dollars' to 'Kill Our Babies?'

"Since Obama has lifted the ban on federal funding for family planning groups that offer abortion outside the United States, an avalanche of dollars could come our way … to kill our babies."

By José Joaquín Camacho

Translated By Halszka

February 15, 2009

Guatemala - Siglo Vientiuno - Original Article (Spanish)

When a society accepts abortion … it puts its very existence into question.

Among the good things we have in Guatemala is a constitutional mandate to defend life from the moment of conception. The reasons are clear, and yet it is fitting to enumerate several of them here.

[Editor's Note: Article 3 of Chapter I in Title II of the Constitution of Guatemala grants the right to life from the point of conception. This article states that the government "guarantees and protects human life since its conception, as same as the integrity and security of the person."]

The most elementary is that violence against the most innocent, as those still unborn are, is an attack against the basis of true democracy and the genuine rule of law. One of the achievements of today's modern society is the recognition that human dignity does not depend on culture, race, sex, intellectual capacity or age. All human beings possess equal dignity and deserve the same respect for their fundamental rights, beginning with the right to life. It is obvious that ensuring the right to life, and in a manner equal to all, is a duty on which the future of the humanity depends. When a society allows abortion - child-killing - it is putting into question its very existence.

Turning to Obama, he also has his good and extremely bad sides. Gallup conducted a telephone survey (see Web Gallup) of more than 1,000 North Americans about the seven biggest decisions Obama has taken so far. The majority approve of the appointment of special envoys to the East [George Mitchell and Richard Holbrooke], establishing stricter rules of conduct for government employees, and limits on the interrogation of detainees. In contrast, 70 percent of those interviewed disapprove of lifting the federal funding ban on organizations that promote abortion. Let us not forget that this affects them [people in the U.S.] as well: in the United States - in 2008 alone - 1.3 million abortions were performed.

The blog Scriptor.org, under the headline, The Unbearable Superficiality of Obama, comments that his initial discourse restored hope for humanity to many, because of his sense of history and religion, his oath-taking on the Bible and his invocation of God's name. But doubts emerged almost immediately: had he taken the oath in vain? If one invokes the name of God, one should agree with God on at least three or four basic issues. But Obama does not.

Is this schizophrenia personal, religious or political? In any case, says the blog, we are confronting a very serious issue that affects the entire world - every human being. Because one of Obama's first decisions was to promote a culture of death: free abortion and the killing of human embryos for experimentation. And we must understand what's really behind all this: the undeniable presence of powerful lobbies (the interests of the pharmaceutical industry in the politics of birth control in the Third World, of pro-choice abortionists, etc.). That is who Obama defers to or whose views he shares.

Perhaps the bluntest summary of the problem comes in the headline from Italy's Corriere della Sera: If He Says No to Torture He Shouldn't Say No to Unborn Life. The commentary went on: "If this is one of Obama's first acts as president, I believe, with all due respect, that the road to disappointment has been a very short one."

The problem is that these decisions against life affect us, and do so deeply. Since Obama has lifted the ban on federal funding for family planning groups that offer abortion outside the United States, an avalanche of dollars could come our way … to kill our babies. We must not forget that we are - for the moment - a country dependent on non-governmental organizations.

CLICK HERE FOR SPANISH VERSION

[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US February 23, 5:52pm]