Church leaders, president to fight Guatemalan family planning law

Published: 2006-02-07

GUATEMALA CITY (CNS) -- Guatemalan church leaders and the country's president said they will fight a controversial family planning law in court. The law, which was pushed through by the Guatemalan Congress in early February, requires the government to make birth control methods available and to teach sex education in school. The law, first passed in November, was vetoed by President Oscar Berger. However, opposition leaders in Congress took advantage of a technical fault with the veto to order the law's publication. Now, the executive branch and church leaders said they will continue to fight the law in court, arguing that it violates the constitutional right to life. In a press conference after the law's passage, Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada Toruno of Guatemala City told local media that the law would "open the doors to abortive practices." To illustrate his point, the cardinal held up a box of birth control pills in one hand and a bullet in another, saying that both were killers. The Guatemalan bishops' conference backed up the cardinal's words in a statement and also said that the law contradicts parents' right to educate their children.

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