Mexico City, Mexico, Apr 23, 2010 / 05:59 pm (CNA).- Liana Rebolledo is a 33-year-old Mexican woman. In a recent television interview she recounted that after she was raped at the age of 13 and became pregnant, she never considered aborting her daughter, who is now 20.
In an interview on the Telestai network, Rebolledo explained how difficult it was to experience the trauma of a rape. “I had my daughter at 13” and it was her life that “saved me.”
“In my case abortion was never an option, it was never considered. It was a difficult situation but she was the one who gave me the will to keep living,” Rebolledo said.
Rebolledo added that getting past the rape was “a process more difficult than you can imagine. You always think it could happen to anyone else, but not to you … I didn’t understand. At that age you don’t understand why you are experiencing such a situation.”
After revealing that she tried to commit suicide because of the rape, and not because of the pregnancy, Rebolledo said, “The doctor told me, don’t worry, you won’t be able to continue the pregnancy, your womb is very young, you have lost a lot of weight, it is going to be a high-risk pregnancy.” The doctor also said, “your life is in danger so I will talk to your mom.”
But Rebolledo said, hearing the heartbeat of her baby was crucial. “I realized I had something with me, something mine, that belonged to me.” She knew that she “was not going to be alone.”
“There was something that said to me: ‘Now I have someone to live for’.”
Sometimes, she said, people say to her, “You gave life to such a special person. I reply: She gave life to me because after what I experienced, I should have ended up psychologically harmed. I don’t know how I would have ended up, but I wouldn’t be here today telling you what the life of my daughter has meant to me.”
“I came from a dysfunctional home where there was a lot of domestic violence. There was no foundation and we were not raised with values or faith,” she said. Rebolledo then added that what gave her strength during the pregnancy was “the fact of knowing that I had to fight for that life and I had to protect her and care for her so that what happened to me would not happened to her”
“I didn’t want her to suffer the emotional abandonment that I did.”
“I don’t regret anything,” she continued. “She is the only thing that brings me consolation.” “Today I think, how is it possible that people think these little ones don’t have the right to live? They bring you so much joy, they are full of life, they are with you in the most difficult moments.”
“I don’t think abortion is an option. If you don’t want the child, you can give him up for adoption,” she said. “Pregnancy is not the problem. The problem is, what is going on that is leading such little girls to end up pregnant at such a young age.”
Speaking about her pro-life activism and volunteer work, Rebolledo said she goes to abortion clinics “on Saturdays and I try to speak to the women to make them see that there is a solution, there is hope, there is a way. In all the times I have gone, I have only seen one case of rape.”
Rebolledo encouraged girls in similar situations to believe in themselves. “You can find a way to move forward. Have faith and hope that you can do it. Visualize your goal. When you have these little ones at your side, you can do it, they support you. At the end of the day you realize everything was worth it.”
“If I had to go through it again, I would do it just to be able to meet her,” she said, referring to her daughter.
this can be found at: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/mexican_woman_raped_at_age_13_explains_why_she_never_considered_abortion/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
After distorted interview, Brazilian archbishop reaffirms Catholic teaching on abortion
Recife, Brazil, Apr 17, 2010 / 07:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After an interview with a Brazilian newspaper appeared to indicate he supported abortion, Archbishop of Olanda y Recife Fernando Saburido has said there was “a misunderstanding” and that he may have been insufficiently clear. He said he fully adheres to Catholic teaching that life is a “gift from God.”
Last year the then-archbishop of his diocese, Jose Cardoso-Sobrinho, said that anyone who performed or facilitated an abortion would incur an automatic excommunication. Archbishop Sobrinho's remarks came in response to the case of an abortion performed on a nine-year-old pregnant with twins after being raped by her mother’s companion.
Recently a forced abortion was performed on a 10-year-old girl, who became pregnant after being raped by her stepfather.
Archbishop Saburido responded to the new case by reiterating Catholic teaching that life must be defended at all points. However, during an interview with a local Brazilian newspaper, Diario de Pernambuco, he appeared to imply that abortion was permitted if deemed necessary by a physician.
In a statement provided to CNA, Archbishop Saburido said there was a “misunderstanding.”
“I adhere, in fullness; to the teaching of our Holy Church which defends life and does not admit, under any circumstances, its destruction because it is a gift from God that only He can take away,” he explained.
Noting that there are some specific cases in Brazil in which abortion is not penalized, he said: “With the Church, I believe that this law is contrary to the basic principles of Christian ethics and cannot be accepted, because it is a law that kills.”
He said he disagreed with the case of the pregnant girl, saying he believes it to be “anti-Christian for taking away a life that could have perfectly been saved.”
“A family willing to adopt the baby would have not been missing, providing affection and dignity,” he continued.
He said his comments to the press corps on April 10 would verify his position against abortion in any circumstances.
“In the specific case of the Diario de Pernambuco, I believe the interview was biased, with repetitive questions, and I admit I may have not been sufficiently clear, leaving room for doubts that I want to clarify by means of this statement,” he continued.
“I believe that all those who know me and know my history, will never have doubts regarding my love for the Church and my fidelity to her Magisterium,” Archbishop Saburido’s statement concluded.
This can be seen at: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/after_distorted_interview_brazilian_archbishop_reaffirms_catholic_teaching_on_abortion/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29
Last year the then-archbishop of his diocese, Jose Cardoso-Sobrinho, said that anyone who performed or facilitated an abortion would incur an automatic excommunication. Archbishop Sobrinho's remarks came in response to the case of an abortion performed on a nine-year-old pregnant with twins after being raped by her mother’s companion.
Recently a forced abortion was performed on a 10-year-old girl, who became pregnant after being raped by her stepfather.
Archbishop Saburido responded to the new case by reiterating Catholic teaching that life must be defended at all points. However, during an interview with a local Brazilian newspaper, Diario de Pernambuco, he appeared to imply that abortion was permitted if deemed necessary by a physician.
In a statement provided to CNA, Archbishop Saburido said there was a “misunderstanding.”
“I adhere, in fullness; to the teaching of our Holy Church which defends life and does not admit, under any circumstances, its destruction because it is a gift from God that only He can take away,” he explained.
Noting that there are some specific cases in Brazil in which abortion is not penalized, he said: “With the Church, I believe that this law is contrary to the basic principles of Christian ethics and cannot be accepted, because it is a law that kills.”
He said he disagreed with the case of the pregnant girl, saying he believes it to be “anti-Christian for taking away a life that could have perfectly been saved.”
“A family willing to adopt the baby would have not been missing, providing affection and dignity,” he continued.
He said his comments to the press corps on April 10 would verify his position against abortion in any circumstances.
“In the specific case of the Diario de Pernambuco, I believe the interview was biased, with repetitive questions, and I admit I may have not been sufficiently clear, leaving room for doubts that I want to clarify by means of this statement,” he continued.
“I believe that all those who know me and know my history, will never have doubts regarding my love for the Church and my fidelity to her Magisterium,” Archbishop Saburido’s statement concluded.
This can be seen at: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/after_distorted_interview_brazilian_archbishop_reaffirms_catholic_teaching_on_abortion/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29
Monday, April 12, 2010
Woman rejects pressure from employer to have abortion
Gerona, Spain, Apr 12, 2010 / 12:11 pm (CNA/Europa Press).- A criminal court in the Spanish city of Gerona has sentenced a restaurant owner to 19 months in prison and ordered him to pay over $6,000 for pressuring a waitress to undergo an abortion in order to keep her job. The woman refused and decided to keep her baby.
According to the court, the restaurant owner insisted the waitress have an abortion after learning she was pregnant.
Europa Press reported that the ruling said the woman was “about to interrupt” her pregnancy but that after “many doubts,” she decided to carry her child to term. When her employment contract was not renewed, she was presented with a pink slip without severance pay.
After assistance from a local union, she was given severance pay in the amount of approximately $2,500. The union also provided the woman’s legal defense and called the ruling a “model sentence” in the fight against workplace harassment.
The court praised the woman's “high level of maturity” in response to the harassment, noting that the owner failed to adopt necessary measures to support her and was guilty of making the woman move heavy boxes, creating a “hostile” working environment.
This can be found at: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/woman_rejects_pressure_from_employer_to_have_an_abortion/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29
According to the court, the restaurant owner insisted the waitress have an abortion after learning she was pregnant.
Europa Press reported that the ruling said the woman was “about to interrupt” her pregnancy but that after “many doubts,” she decided to carry her child to term. When her employment contract was not renewed, she was presented with a pink slip without severance pay.
After assistance from a local union, she was given severance pay in the amount of approximately $2,500. The union also provided the woman’s legal defense and called the ruling a “model sentence” in the fight against workplace harassment.
The court praised the woman's “high level of maturity” in response to the harassment, noting that the owner failed to adopt necessary measures to support her and was guilty of making the woman move heavy boxes, creating a “hostile” working environment.
This can be found at: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/woman_rejects_pressure_from_employer_to_have_an_abortion/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29
Saturday, April 10, 2010
ACP: Schools should not affirm students' perceived sexual orientation
Gainesville, Fla., Apr 10, 2010 / 08:02 am (CNA).- In a recent letter sent to school superintendents throughout the country, the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) cautioned that it is “not a school’s role to 'affirm' a student’s perceived personal sexual orientation.” The ACP also said that “rigorous studies” show that children and adolescents who initially experience gender confusion or same sex attraction no longer do so by the age of 25.
On March 31, ACP president Dr. Tom Benton wrote to schools across the U.S., saying that he and his staff are “increasingly concerned” that “many cases and efforts to help students who exhibit same sex attractions and/or gender confusion are based on incomplete or inaccurate information.”
“Adolescence is a time of upheaval and impermanence,” Benton wrote. “Adolescents experience confusion about many things, including sexual orientation and gender identity, and they are particularly vulnerable to environmental influences.”
“Rigorous studies demonstrate that most adolescents who initially experience same-sex attraction, or are sexually confused, no longer experience such attractions by age 25,” he added. In one study, Benton said as many as 26% of 12-year-olds reported being unsure of their sexual orientation but only 2-3% of adults actually identify themselves as homosexual. “Therefore, the majority of sexually-questioning youth ultimately adopt a heterosexual identity,” Benton deduced.
“Even children with Gender Identity Disorder (when a child desires to be the opposite sex) will typically lose this desire by puberty, if the behavior is not reinforced,” he told the school superintendents.
Benton wrote that researchers “also maintain that when parents or others allow or encourage a child to behave and be treated as the opposite sex, the confusion is reinforced and the child is conditioned for a life of unnecessary pain and suffering. Even when motivated by noble intentions, schools can ironically play a detrimental role if they reinforce this disorder.”
Furthermore, “in dealing with adolescents experiencing same-sex attraction,” Benton advised, “it is essential to understand there is no scientific evidence that an individual is born 'gay' or 'transgender.' Instead, the best available research points to multiple factors - primarily social and familial – that predispose children and adolescents to homosexual attraction and/or gender confusion. It is also critical to understand that these conditions can respond well to therapy.”
Benton cited a recently released “landmark” survey by the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) which compiled analysis of 125 years of scientific studies and clinical experience dealing with homosexuality.
According to Benton, the NARTH report, titled “What Research Shows,” makes three significant observations. The first is that “individuals with unwanted same sex attraction often can be successfully treated,” and the second is that “there is no undue risk to patients from embarking on such therapy.” The third observation, wrote the ACP president, is that “as a group, homosexual experience significantly higher levels of mental and physical health problems compared to heterosexuals.”
“Among adolescents who claim a 'gay' identity,” Benton noted, “the health risks include higher rates of sexually transmitted infections, alcoholism, substance abuse, anxiety, depression and suicide. Encouragingly, the longer students delay self-labeling as 'gay,' the less likely they are to experience these health risks. In fact, for each year an adolescent delays, the risk of suicide alone decreases by 20%.”
“In light of these facts,” he warned, “it is clear that when well-intentioned but misinformed school personnel encourage students to 'comeout as gay' and be 'affirmed,' there is a serious risk of erroneously labeling students (who may merely be experiencing transient sexual confusion and/or engaging in sexual experimentation).”
“Premature labeling may then lead some adolescents into harmful homosexual behaviors that they otherwise would not pursue.”
Drawing his letter to a close, the ACP president said, it “is the school’s legitimate role to provide a safe environment for respectful self-expression for all students.” However, it “is not the school’s role to diagnose and attempt to treat any student’s medical condition, and certainly not a school’s role to 'affirm' a student’s perceived personal sexual orientation,” he added. “It is critical to the health of your students that you and your staff rely on accurate information regarding sexual orientation and gender confusion issues.”
Welcoming the facts cited in the letter, Christine de Vollmer, president of Alliance for the Family, said on Friday that it “is wonderful to have this made absolutely clear, and so much well-meaning but ill-placed ‘acceptance’ put into proper perspective.”
De Vollmer serves as leader of ALAFA (Alianza Latino Americano para la Familia), which has created a 12-year curriculum for students called Alive to the World to provide “clear guidelines for understanding and accompanying children and adolescents through the various psychological stages to maturity.”
this can be found at: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/acp_schools_should_not_affirm_students_perceived_sexual_orientation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29
On March 31, ACP president Dr. Tom Benton wrote to schools across the U.S., saying that he and his staff are “increasingly concerned” that “many cases and efforts to help students who exhibit same sex attractions and/or gender confusion are based on incomplete or inaccurate information.”
“Adolescence is a time of upheaval and impermanence,” Benton wrote. “Adolescents experience confusion about many things, including sexual orientation and gender identity, and they are particularly vulnerable to environmental influences.”
“Rigorous studies demonstrate that most adolescents who initially experience same-sex attraction, or are sexually confused, no longer experience such attractions by age 25,” he added. In one study, Benton said as many as 26% of 12-year-olds reported being unsure of their sexual orientation but only 2-3% of adults actually identify themselves as homosexual. “Therefore, the majority of sexually-questioning youth ultimately adopt a heterosexual identity,” Benton deduced.
“Even children with Gender Identity Disorder (when a child desires to be the opposite sex) will typically lose this desire by puberty, if the behavior is not reinforced,” he told the school superintendents.
Benton wrote that researchers “also maintain that when parents or others allow or encourage a child to behave and be treated as the opposite sex, the confusion is reinforced and the child is conditioned for a life of unnecessary pain and suffering. Even when motivated by noble intentions, schools can ironically play a detrimental role if they reinforce this disorder.”
Furthermore, “in dealing with adolescents experiencing same-sex attraction,” Benton advised, “it is essential to understand there is no scientific evidence that an individual is born 'gay' or 'transgender.' Instead, the best available research points to multiple factors - primarily social and familial – that predispose children and adolescents to homosexual attraction and/or gender confusion. It is also critical to understand that these conditions can respond well to therapy.”
Benton cited a recently released “landmark” survey by the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) which compiled analysis of 125 years of scientific studies and clinical experience dealing with homosexuality.
According to Benton, the NARTH report, titled “What Research Shows,” makes three significant observations. The first is that “individuals with unwanted same sex attraction often can be successfully treated,” and the second is that “there is no undue risk to patients from embarking on such therapy.” The third observation, wrote the ACP president, is that “as a group, homosexual experience significantly higher levels of mental and physical health problems compared to heterosexuals.”
“Among adolescents who claim a 'gay' identity,” Benton noted, “the health risks include higher rates of sexually transmitted infections, alcoholism, substance abuse, anxiety, depression and suicide. Encouragingly, the longer students delay self-labeling as 'gay,' the less likely they are to experience these health risks. In fact, for each year an adolescent delays, the risk of suicide alone decreases by 20%.”
“In light of these facts,” he warned, “it is clear that when well-intentioned but misinformed school personnel encourage students to 'comeout as gay' and be 'affirmed,' there is a serious risk of erroneously labeling students (who may merely be experiencing transient sexual confusion and/or engaging in sexual experimentation).”
“Premature labeling may then lead some adolescents into harmful homosexual behaviors that they otherwise would not pursue.”
Drawing his letter to a close, the ACP president said, it “is the school’s legitimate role to provide a safe environment for respectful self-expression for all students.” However, it “is not the school’s role to diagnose and attempt to treat any student’s medical condition, and certainly not a school’s role to 'affirm' a student’s perceived personal sexual orientation,” he added. “It is critical to the health of your students that you and your staff rely on accurate information regarding sexual orientation and gender confusion issues.”
Welcoming the facts cited in the letter, Christine de Vollmer, president of Alliance for the Family, said on Friday that it “is wonderful to have this made absolutely clear, and so much well-meaning but ill-placed ‘acceptance’ put into proper perspective.”
De Vollmer serves as leader of ALAFA (Alianza Latino Americano para la Familia), which has created a 12-year curriculum for students called Alive to the World to provide “clear guidelines for understanding and accompanying children and adolescents through the various psychological stages to maturity.”
this can be found at: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/acp_schools_should_not_affirm_students_perceived_sexual_orientation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29
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