The Archbishop of Santo Domingo, Monsignor Francisco Ozoria, the highest ranking spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Church in the Dominican Republic, spoke out on Wednesday, 17 March 2021 calling the approval of the three grounds for abortion the equivalent of legitimizing the death penalty in the country.
“We are concerned about how people are alarmed about femicides, about the crimes in today’s society. We cannot approve the death penalty, either,” he asserted while participating in the photographic exhibition “60 years of Priestly Life and Pastoral Achievements,” held in honor of the 60th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez. Cardinal López Rodríguez is ill and removed from active priesthood.
In this sense, Ozoria Acosta maintained that the Church remains firm in the defense of life from conception to death, despite the position of congressmen or various sectors of society that defend the three grounds for abortion.
Monsignor defended the principle of saving both lives if the mother is in danger of death during childbirth.
“The Church remains firm in defense of life, there is a principle that is to save both lives, if, in the course of the operation one dies, there is no crime because it was an attempt to save both lives,” said Ozoria.
A week ago, the Justice Committee of the Chamber of Deputies agreed to exclude from the Penal Code bill two of the three grounds. The legislators said they would allow an abortion when the life of the mother is in danger.
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El Dia
18 March 2021