India's various religious traditions honour human life, but today its dignity and sanctity are under attack. Abortion, poverty, socio-economic pressures and artificial insemination are a threat. The Christian faith should encourage care and respect for life from conception to its normal end in death. In the fourth part of its reflection, the Commission for Theology and Doctrine of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India-Latin rite addressed these issues at the national symposium on the social doctrine of the Church.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Attacks on life in India take many forms: abortion, particularly of female foetuses; malnutrition; the lack of basic health care; suicide; unethical artificial reproduction techniques like in vitro fertilisation and surrogacy. The Commission for Theology and Doctrine of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India-Latin rite (CCBI-LR) address these issues in the fourth part of the reflection developed by Indian bishops, priests and religious at the national symposium. Over the past few days, AsiaNews has published the various parts of the meeting's report, specifically those on poverty, violence against women and religious conflicts.

A country where life is endangered

India is a country where the value and dignity of life has been held as important and is enshrined within the diverse religious traditions. The idea of 'ahimsa' flowing from tradition was at the forefront of the non-violent freedom movement that gained for us independence from foreign domination.

Yet, we note that in India violence and destruction of life are a sad reality of daily existence. Violence to life takes various forms such as abortion especially of the girl child and female infanticide; malnutrition that kills infants in poor areas; lack of basic health care that leads to the death of people predominantly in certain parts of the country; breakdown in emotional, social and economic balance that drives some to suicide (young people, farmers); communal riots and man-made ecological disasters take a heavy toll on life. Other attacks on life include the use of ethically unacceptable artificial reproductive techniques such as IVF and surrogate motherhood.

In the light of our Christian faith that upholds the sacredness of life and human dignity, we are called to be pro-life consistently caring for human life from its inception to its normal conclusion in death. We will cultivate a pro-life attitude amongst ourselves. This will take varied forms:

• Supporting women who bear children with special care for those in difficulty or who are drawn to terminate their pregnancy due to various social and economic pressures.
• Organizing awareness programs and offering preventive counselling services via family cells in our parishes aimed at helping the vulnerable cope with economic, social and psychological issues that disturb them.
• Initiating ministries that care for and support those struggling with childlessness and infertility.
• Encouraging scientific research that help overcome infertility in ways that respect basic values such as respect for the human embryo, the importance of procreation as a result of the conjugal act.
• Making people aware of the dangers in resorting to unethical forms of Artificial Reproductive Technologies (ART)

(NC)

 

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