Editor's Note:
Virginia Bonard is an Argentine journalist and writer.
She is the author of the book "Our faith is revolutionary" on the thought of Pope Francis.
She has been part of the communication teams of the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral of the Argentine Episcopal Conference (CEA), of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) and collaborates in media such as Ciudad Nueva, Criterio, Religión Digital, Vatican Insider and the supplement Valores Religious of Clarín, among others.
The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author.
See more opinion on CNN en Español.
(CNN Spanish) -
When I “truly” met a person whom I will call “Rosalía”, she was much older than me and we were what in any part of the world is known as “good neighbors”.
LOOK: OPINION | In favor of abortion: it is a fundamental human right to decide on our own body
A month after our second child was born, one afternoon, she rang the bell of my apartment.
She was very happy for the baby and also played with our one and a half year old daughter.
She looked very excited.
While we shared tea and the details of the delivery, Rosalía collapsed and did not stop crying.
“I had 6 abortions.
My husband didn't want any more children but I did.
They were the worst moments of my life.
You will never regret having a child, but you will regret aborting it because there is no going back ”.
Her story reminds me of a friend from my youth, whom I will call "Gabriela."
We were both young and sporty, we had a lot of fun in the summer, but one day she stopped coming on weekends.
I found out later that "Gabriela" had become pregnant by her boyfriend, as young as she was.
Neither family gave the baby room on the way and forced her to abort.
For "Gabriela" abortion was a before and after in her life.
And he wanted to forget everything that reminded him of those gray days.
Every time the debate on abortion is renewed in any part of the planet - and in particular in my country - I am founded with conviction on the principles of life, what is essentially human, what we are above all else, what makes us fraternize and sororiza as a species.
When does life begin?
When did I start to be what I am?
What makes some people stay and breathe while others cannot and have been left out without having even been able to give an opinion, say "A", in the face of the biggest decision on which all the others pivot: to live or not to live?
It unites us that we are human and that we have a brand that is our DNA: it is unique, it gives us identity and reminds us that we are very different from our parents.
I'm just talking about biology, nothing special.
The second thing that appears to me with forcefulness is if we are really going to have to accept that the biggest always win, those with the most force, those who can decide on the smallest, those who appear in the media on a global scale because they can .
And the weakest, the minorities?
I highlight with tenderness and delicacy, among those silent and silenced minorities, all the little lives that nest in the wonderful and surprising body of a woman who gestates.
I believe in a humanity that little by little is giving way - it is difficult but is on the right path - to the rights of minorities, of all minorities: ethnic, sexual, political, health, cultural, artistic.
And add whatever you want: a world without minorities, which excludes, which is built on lies and half-truths because we cannot all live and think in the same way.
Let's talk about that minority that is pure promise.
Let it be.
Now let's turn to the question of abortion in contexts of poverty.
Some moms who live in towns and popular neighborhoods with which I have been connected for several years, very angry, said to me: “Why are you speaking for us?
Why do they say that we poor women want abortion?
For us, a child is the most important thing in life ”.
Clearly we see floating and remaining on the argumentative surface those principles that uphold the middle and upper middle classes, which, due to their sweeping arrival in the media and their very high cultural penetration, cover up those voices of poor social minorities that they see in the child. to be born an opportunity, a joy among so much need, the possibility of forming a family.
What is hard to believe?
I copy part of the letter that a group of mothers, who live in popular neighborhoods of Buenos Aires and its suburbs, recently approached Pope Francis to make force for them in the public sphere:
“When we heard the President of the Nation present his own bill that seeks to legalize abortion, a cold terror invaded us (…) Our voice, like that of unborn children, is never heard.
They cataloged us as a 'factory of the poor', 'living women of the State'.
Our reality as women who get ahead with our children is overshadowed by other women to whom no one gave representation.
(…) Neither legislators nor journalists want to listen to us.
If we didn't have the villeros priests who raise their voices for us, we would be even more alone ”.
I reiterate some phrases that are not usually read in the chronicles on this subject: Abortion hurts.
Abortion abandons.
Abortion darkens.
Abortion hurts.
Abortion suffocates.
Abortion is sad.
Abortion prevents.
Abortion restricts.
Abortion cries.
Abortion does not interrupt: abortion kills.
While preparing this column, a group of prestigious Argentine scientists and teachers who have worked for years on the subject, analyzing the issue from the perspective of caring for the two lives involved in pregnancy, sent me the book Abortion from A to Z , which is in the process of pre-production.
I took some concepts that seem core to understand that abortion is an unscrupulous business:
–According to the authors, the vital biological activity of a new human being begins at the moment of fertilization.
This is observed on a daily basis, for example, from the use of assisted fertilization techniques.
–The enormous biotechnological interests that exist in the development of embryonic cells for research or treatment are recognized worldwide;
as well as the modification of the human genome in the embryonic stage.
What is at stake in this regard?
Big, huge, incalculable economic interests.
–From the social and political, the fertility and fertility rates of the populations;
your aging;
the social expenditures that low-income populations imply;
“The impact of poverty on the economy of each country;
the overpopulation of the planet, and the use and protection of natural resources will define a certain political, economic and social strategy, which is often influenced by international organizations or companies that submit the sovereignty of a country ”, the authors affirm.
These aspects that the authors point out, are certainly obscured and silenced in the debate.
The exhibitions in the Chamber of Deputies of Argentina begin this December 1 and those who will argue against will take some of these axes to develop and support their position.
Argentina is a country that was and continues to be traversed by cracks and divisions that have managed to put us in a position of brothers against brothers at different times in our history.
Was it necessary in times of global pandemic to add one more rift to our battered country?
The world needs each and every one of us, beings of this extraordinary human species.
None of us are dumps or dumps.
No one is more than anyone on this earth.
Let's take care of life from end to end.
Never anyone less.
