Further to the UN request last Friday, the Conference of Brazilian Bishops “rejected the option to authorise abortion in the case of microcephaly”. It believes “that it is high time to reopen this debate following the dramatic rise in the number of cases related to the Zika virus”.
Monsignor Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, General Secretary of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil declared that: “Microcephaly has been present in Brazil for many years. This is being used to revert to the subject of abortion”. However, “abortion promotes eugenics – the procedure used to select perfect people”. The President of the Conference, Monsignor Sergio da Rocha, has “defended the principle of ‘promoting life under any conditions’ (…) ‘A poorer quality of life does not equate to fewer rights to live, with less dignity’”.
Albert Barrois, Research Director and blogger has analysed the situation from the scientific perspective and declared that, “the link between microcephaly and the Zika virus is very tenuous at best”. However, “Nature, The Lancet, and even the WHO Bulletin have repeated the simple fact that nothing is being done about it”.All of the warnings and health provisions are based on this hypothetical link. From reading the scientific journals, it can be concluded that “the increase in the number of microcephaly cases could be largely due to the fact that they are not being diagnosed sufficiently far in advance and that the criterion used is too vague, generating two-thirds of false positive results.”. For Albert Barrois, it is far more urgent to “focus on the problem of microcephaly, which currently seems specific to Brazil”, to “tryto confirm or reject the link between microcephaly and Zika without delay” and “above all, to attack the Zika carrier”.
AFP (10/02/2016); Albert Barrois (10/02/2016)