It is an undeniable truth that children are the future of every nation that wants to make progress. Nonetheless, there are times when those little seeds of hope that need to grow in love, encounter certain obstacles that prevent them from growing in harmony.
On the other hand, it can be still stated that Latin America is an enormous piece of fertile land where most of its countries sing in unison for the protection of life from its conception. However, for the past few decades, the culture of death has threatened this idea with a scourge that is typical of developing countries: poverty.
According to the “Report of Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Social Panorama of Latin America 2013” poverty data is significant; 27.9% of the Latin American population lives in poverty and this percentage represents 168 million people. The figures are disturbing since they are not just numbers; they actually imply that there are many people who live in indigence, who have nothing but a piece of bread to eat and a glass of water to drink, and who do not know what a pencil and paper are for. They live just under a metal sheet, where the only heating source is the sun and a dog they can lay next to in order to stay warm. Above all, they have limited resources to maintain their health. That is the reason why poverty is a crime in itself, a crime we are all somehow responsible for.
At the same time, it is important to consider that there is nothing worse than trying to address a problem with an even bigger problem: the youngest and most vulnerable beings’ submission to legalized violence; in other words, abortion as the solution to poverty. The pro-choice movements argue that thousands of women, due to the fact that they do not have the appropriate access to healthcare, have to go through an abortion in illegal places and that this means that they put their lives at risk. This is the reason they claim that unsafe abortion and maternal mortality are intrinsically related to poverty and as a result they demand the legalization of so called “safe abortion”.
However, the previously mentioned view hides important contradictions. If a woman who lives in poverty is asked why she would choose to abort, her immediate answer would be: “I wouldn’t choose to abort, but having a child implies having to spend money and caring for them and I cannot do that”. Most women in this world would love to be a mother. One of their dearest wishes is to have a baby. As a prestigious pediatrician from Argentina describes: women are the most prepared to give love. They love kissing their babies and singing lullabies to them.
The contradictions can be observed when it is noticed that the real cause of poor mothers’ death is the lack of efficient and timely obstetric care. According to a UNICEF report it is estimated that in Latin America and the Caribbean, qualified care providers during labor are not available to around 1 million pregnant women, and that around 744 thousand women are not checked during pregnancy. Consequently, more than 20,000 mothers die during pregnancy and labor; and more than 200,000 newborns die within the 28 days that follow their birth (3). It is absolutely wrong to believe that legalization is the right solution to the problems related to motherhood in poverty. The goal is to dignify women, not to humiliate them by promoting life destruction in their wombs.
The best way to uplift future mothers is to introduce the adequate public policies that ensure efficient and comprehensive protection for them and their babies. The goal should be to guarantee that all women, no matter their social status, are able to have a healthy pregnancy, to fulfil their needs and are given the possibility to enjoy good health.
Ultimately, abortion is a thief that will always steal something from us; it steals the desire to be a mother and the happiness to bring new life to this world from women. Moreover, the abortion steals from the families the desire to leave a new human generation, suppressing in this way the hugs and caresses that will never reach their destination. Furthermore, it steals the big treasure of love for the human dignity from the whole human race. Abortion eliminates the love for life because it ends the affection towards the human being who wants to live but is ignored.
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