Kochi — Syro-Malabar Church head Cardinal Mar George Alencherry on Tuesday urged the government and people’s representatives not to support the move by the Central Government to introduce amendments to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, which facilitates abortion.
“Feticide cannot be justified under any circumstance. The move to increase the pregnancy period for abortion from the existing 20 weeks to 24 weeks is nothing but an act of encouraging feticide.
“We must think of means to protect life, right from the time it emerges. The condition that abortion could be done at any stage of pregnancy, considering the ill health of the mother or the child, is violation of human rights,” the Cardinal said in press release issued here.
Alencherry is of the opinion that those who raise voice for environment conservation should raise voice for protection of life also, reported The New Indian Express.
““The advancements in medical science should be used for protecting life, not for terminating it,” Cardinal said.
The cardinal urged the State Government to express dissent over the move to relax the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.
“Political leaders, social activists and various Christian denominations should also take strong stand against this,” he added.