Article by Marc Aupiais
Following a statement by the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference in February, hinting at a need to look into altering the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996), Archbishop Buthi, of Johannesburg, appears to be upping the stakes, with a third anti-abortion event organized by the "Culture of Life Campaign":
The Bishops, have recently become more political in their fight against legalized abortion: saying in February:
Quotation from a recent press release by the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, showing a Catholic effort to amend abortion laws:
"Given the current depth of polarisation along social, economic and political lines, we propose that the starting point be the foundational principle that the human person, and every human person, has intrinsic and inalienable value. All else in any code of morals must take its lead from that basic principle. In this way we will avoid all considerations of race, class, nationality, religion and political persuasion. This is also the only way in which we will be able to judge and evaluate whether or not our Constitution and it’s application is in fact fair and just to all those who have been given the gift of life – from babies in their mother’s wombs to natural death. "
titled -- "National Church Leaders welcome Pres. Zuma's call for a Moral dialogue"
(South African Catholic 22 / 02 | February / 2010)
"Culture of Life Campain" chairwoman: Michelle Joseph sent an email to South African Catholic today giving us the following information:
"Anti-abortion march
On Saturday 13 March from 09:00 hundreds of Catholics [are planned and expected to] gather at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Hillbrow – corner of Saratoga Avenue and Nugget Street – to join the Culture of Life Campaign in a march to Constitution Hill where Most Reverend Archbishop Buti Tlhagale, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Johannesburg will hand a letter to the MEC for Health, Gauteng expressing the Catholic Church’s teachings on abortion and petitioning the Government to amend the law on abortion.
The march to Constitution Hill will take the form of a prayer-walk. It will start at about 10:45 following Mass celebrated in the Cathedral by the Archbishop and a number of priests of the Archdiocese. Various parishes and church organisations will carry banners identifying the group, some may wear uniforms and some may carry posters calling for an end to abortion.
[...]
"
"Background
The Culture of Life Campaign was formed by lay people of the Archdiocese of Johannesburg at the request of Archbishop Tlhagale in response to legislation that condones the termination of pregnancy. Eleven years after abortion was legalised in South Africa, thousands of citizens still believe that the Termination of Pregnancy Act (Act 92 of 1996) violates the rights of unborn children. In particular, Catholics believe that the unborn foetus becomes a human life from the moment of conception and therefore termination of pregnancy is tantamount to murder, an act that is condemned [sic] by the Constitution of South Africa.
The Culture of Life Campaign looks for proactive ways to protect the lives of unborn children and their pregnant mothers. One of its projects is the creation of a future safe haven for pregnant mothers – giving them opportunity to take care of themselves and their unborn children, giving them an alternative to abortion.
The Culture of Life Campaign fully believes that no effort is too great when it comes to the defence of human life and in the words of the late Pope John Paul II: “Go out into the streets and trading places and woe unto you if you do not succeed in defending life.”"
Pavement protest outside a Sandton abortion centre
On Saturday 6 March, 10:30 to 12:00 around dozen people, members of the Culture of Life Campaign: were planned to be involved in a protest prayer vigil outside an abortion facility. The organization does so monthly, and has claimed that motorists use their vehicles hooters to hoot (USA:honk) their support to protesters, not unlikely given mass opposition to abortion among a vast majority of South Africans, as attested to via statistics.
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