Bishop Likens Abortions to Silent Holocaust

Juan Antonio Reig Pla compared abortions with the Spanish Civil War and says only “backward societies” practice pregnancy terminations

Juan Antonio Reig Pla, the Bishop of Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, said that since 1985, the year that pregnancy interruptions were legally allowed in some cases in Spain, there have been “two million abortions, many more deaths than during the Spanish Civil War.”

Reig warned that a woman’s freedom becomes “corrupted” by using the “right to terminate the begotten child” defence.

The bishop added that there is no reason to defend voluntary abortion and that the right to life should be kept separated from the political debate and partisan fighting.

His statements came during Thursday’s presentation of a religious event involving the defence of family values, Jornada Mariana por la Familia y la Vida, which will take place at the end of this month.

Bishop Reig argued that abortions are clear evidence of a “backward society.”

This new statement from the Catholic Church comes amidst a storm of controversial legal reform of existing abortion legislation.

If the changes supported by Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz Gallardón are passed, the current system of abortion on demand in the first trimester will be replaced with a ban on abortion apart from in the cases of rape or serious risk to the mother’s health.