questions of life" "
Thirty years after the introduction of the law that authorizes abortions in France, their number has remained stable. This is revealed by “Le Monde” in an article in recent days: each year some 200,000 voluntary interruptions of pregnancy are practised in France, just as at the end of the Seventies. Instead of expressing concern about the high number of abortions, the paper reports that this regularity reveals a profound evolution in conduct. Women, it is claimed, have finally obtained the right to dispose of their own body, and thus won control over procreation. In fact, the decision to abort now depends, according to the article, on care for the child and not on personal convenience. How is it possible to believe in such alleged maturity? While awaiting the right moment to have a child, women decide on the suppression of so many others. According to the French daily, the high rate of abortions is due to the fact that contraception is not properly used by women: but abortion cannot be considered a means of birth control. Yet the right to the interruption of pregnancy is now allegedly threatened by the poor motivation of the doctors who practice it: they are allegedly paid badly and not adequately recognized within the French health system. When the medical profession is no longer devoted to the sacredness of life, it is forced to submit to other concerns, not least the economics of their profession. These data testify to the fact that the legalization of abortion has subverted the vision of life and procreation itself. John Paul II has justly noted that “today we are witnessing the consolidation of a mentality that, on the one hand, seems almost intimidated by the responsibility for procreation and, on the other, would like to dominate and manipulate life” (Discourse 28/01/04). A cultural action that may help to overcome commonplaces and mystifications in this field is therefore essential.
