“The United Kingdom will ban the cooking of live crabs and shrimps to reduce animal suffering” but only “in 2022 there will have been 250,000 abortions”

“These innocent people are the scapegoats of a civilization that sits on an autonomous power,” concludes Argüello in his message, in a sentence with which he extends this denunciation of the double standard regarding the defense of life beyond British borders. In fact, he has already dedicated part of his opening speech at the Plenary Assembly of the Episcopal Conference to this issue, where he used the same divergence between the legal protection of animals and the helplessness of the unborn child, in this case in Spain. “The legislation can punish the destruction of an eagle egg with a fine of 15,000 euros and up to two years in prison, but it gives every right to kill a child with Down syndrome until the end of the pregnancy,” he said in this speech.

In this intervention, he recalled the latest official data: “in 2024, 106,173 abortions and 322,034 births were recorded. Vegetative growth is negative in 114,937 people. And he warned that, according to him, public debate avoids the root of the problem: “There is a social and political renunciation of addressing the question in all its dramatic dimension.”

A situation which leads to a refusal to address the issue “socially and politically”, because “daring to speak about it in public has become taboo, almost an intrusion into people’s private lives”. “To publicly assert that abortion is objectively immoral, since it means ending the life of a person other than one’s father and mother, is to risk hearing strong personal, social and political disqualifications,” Argüello added in November. A reality that he himself experienced. It is enough to observe some reactions against him in the users’ responses to his publication on X. In this climate, “offering information to pregnant women is considered abuse and pray before an abortion a threat“, he denounced in November.

But Argüello also recalled that even some “pro-choice” philosophers, such as Peter Singer, have “the intellectual honesty to recognize that the embryo is a human being.” Thus arises the paradox that “in the same hospital” a group of doctors “is determined to save a baby who is five and a half months pregnant, while another group of doctors deliberately kills a baby of the same age in the next room. “It’s totally legal,” he said.

As in his message on Sunday, Argüello also highlighted the problem of abortion not only as a moral issue, but as “symptom of moral weakening of our democracy. He added that it was also an example of a country unable to protect the most vulnerable lives and substituting legislation for what should be family policy. “The shortcut of abortion to solve problems that require public policies in favor of the family and life is a symptom of the moral weakening of our democracy,” he denounced.

Maternity support

A criticism which opens a direct link with the latest FOESSA report, presented a few days ago. According to him, the demographic crisis, job insecurity, property prices and child poverty are part of an ecosystem where many women are trapped in conditions that make it difficult to maintain a pregnancy. “Many women want to become mothers and see their fertility plans thwarted by job insecurity, difficulties in accessing housing, the feminization of care and weak public support,” cited Argüello from FOESSA himself.

And he added that the Church cannot limit itself to denouncing abortion without looking at this reality, motherhood without support and the loneliness that many women experience. This is why he implicitly announced that the social alliance for hope in favor of birth will be one of the priorities of the EEC. “I want to extend a hand of proximity to pregnant women so that they do not hesitate to ask for help,” he declared, recalling that the defense of life requires a global commitment.