Now, I think everyone- except the world's nuttiest Catholics- can agree that the Vatican's response to the rape and impregnation of a 9 year old Brazilian girl is heinous in the extreme. To sum up, this 9 year old girl was raped and made pregnant with twins, allegedly by her stepfather. Because any pregnancy (let alone a twin pregnancy) poses a threat to the physical wellbeing, even the life, of such a young girl, the girl's mother and doctors decided to carry out an abortion. Clearly the main consideration for any sane, rational human being would be the life and wellbeing of a very young girl who had been raped, not the foetuses she was carrying.
For the insane and irrational, for those least interested in the wellbeing of children- namely the Catholic church, however, the idea of a physically underdeveloped 9-year-old girl being forced to give birth in the interests of potentially preserving the two 'souls', whatever the risk to the girl's own life, is perfectly acceptable. So the Catholic church excommunicated the girl's mother and the doctors who carried out the abortion. Who would want to count themselves among the membership of a church that holds beliefs like that I don't know, but we do know that being a child rapist is just fine in the eyes of the Catholic church; after all, not only have countless paedophile priests found 'forgiveness' in the eyes of the church, so has the girl's alleged rapist, her stepfather.
The regional archbishop, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, pronounced excommunication for the mother for authorising the operation and doctors who carried it out for fear that the slim girl would not survive carrying the fetuses to term.
"God's law is above any human law. So when a human law ... is contrary to God's law, this human law has no value," Cardoso had said.
He also said the accused stepfather would not be expelled from the church. Although the man allegedly committed "a heinous crime ... the abortion - the elimination of an innocent life - was more serious".
Coming from the Catholic church, none of this really poses any surprise to anyone familiar with its actions over the years.
What I was surprised at was the headline in the Sydney Morning Herald:
Yes, they put the word 'raped' in inverted commas. And kept it there.
Now, it appears to be common practice in the media to put things like that in inverted commas when there is an allegation that has not yet been substantiated in court. It's the media covering their arses, legally speaking, and fair enough that they do so. But when a 9-year-old girl is made pregnant there is absolutely no question of consent, whether a case is yet to be tried in court or not. She was raped. Inverted commas in this case are completely inappropriate and serve no purpose other than to make it look like there is a possibility that the 9-year-old was asking for it.
It wasn't just a single slip-up, however:
See, once again: if a 9-year-old girl is made pregnant, she was raped. She was not 'allegedly raped'. She was raped, allegedly by her stepfather. Using language that is ambiguous enough to imply anything else is disgusting and irresponsible. I'd expect it from the Catholic church, but I'm not yet seasoned enough to expect it from the Australian media.
3 comments:
You need to learn that name calling is not an argument and displays a lack of merit in your view. There are 2 inncocent lives, the 9year old and the unborn child.
You do not protect a 9 year old by further violence, that is by killing the unborn child. Other medical options were available.
regards
Dr MGH
1) there was no name calling in the post, nice try though.
2) why do you get to choose? shouldn't the girl, her mother and their medical support make this decision? could it be possible for you to put aside your monumental arrogance for one second and recognise that it isn't your decision to make?
3) if you are a medical doctor, is it your habit to second guess the decisions of patients and their families?
I agree with GAM on all three aforementioned points.
to reiterate I too didn't read any name calling whats so ever. The girl was also rapped at nine years old and should have more than enough sympathy not added problems like getting excommunicated from catholic land. I don't know but having twins at nine years old sounds if not life threatening then certainly life altering and if you were put in such a position I don't think you would want to have your desires be second guessed.
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