In response to the Mexican Supreme Court’s steps to decriminalize abortion and remove legal protection from unborn children, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Mexico is calling for a March for Women and for Life on October 3.
The march will take place in Mexico City.
The bishops said Monday that they were "pleased to see the numerous actions and demonstrations that have taken place throughout the country, and we encourage the laity to continue doing so."
“Various lay people from different social organizations, Catholic and non-Catholic, have approached us to propose a massive presence in Mexico City in order to express appreciation for women and the protection of the human life of the woman and her child in all circumstances,” they said in a statement.
The March for Women and Life will “bring together social organizations from all over the country," they added.
"The proposal has been presented to the Mexican Bishops’ Conference and we welcome this great opportunity for our faithful people to join this initiative," the bishops explained.
Marcial Padilla, director of the Mexican pro-life platform ConParticipación, who is in charge of coordinating the march, told the Latin American news agency ACI Prensa that September should be a month of celebration for Mexicans because of the nation’s independence day on September 16, but that it "has become a sad and somber month."
Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously on September 7 that criminalizing abortion is unconstitutional. The ruling sets a precedent that could lead to legalization of abortion nationwide. It was already legal in Mexico City and decriminalized in the states of Oaxaca, Hidalgo and Veracruz.
“Those of us who are convinced of the value of life do not have a need for a homicidal law like the one they are approving,” read a tweet from the Episcopal Conference of Mexico, an organization of Catholic bishops.
The Supreme Court’s ruling will take the lives of “a great many Mexicans," Padilla told ACI Prensa. “What we want to do is to solve the problems that led [a woman] to consider [abortion], but in no way do we want to take away the protection under the law from the unborn child. The child must have the same protection under the law as his mother.”
He added that "it’s necessary to act in support of both the mother and the child, for women and for life, which is why social organizations throughout the country decided to call a great march for women and for life.”
Padilla said, “we are going to gather as many people as possible in a national march in Mexico City, to express our commitment to the dignity of the person and women and the defense of life.”
The pro-life leader concluded: "We’re going to continue promoting actions by civil society to support the mother and the child to avoid this dilemma of the culture of death.”
