Caritas Sri Lanka - SEDEC

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka (CBCSL) has come out in protest against the government’s plan to enact legalization that would permit abortion. A CBCSL statement issued in January this year has said that the Bishops are not in agreement with and are opposed to any attempt at legalizing abortion, since abortion amounts to murder. The Bishops have urged the government not to proceed with this intended legislation “since killing any form is an abominable crime”.

The Church has always upheld the teaching of the Holy Bible which teaches that all human beings are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). The Church has also held that God is the author of life and that it is God’s supreme and most sacred gift given to all of us. Therefore, it is our greatest obligation to do all we can to protect life from its natural beginning to its natural end. As Blessed John Paul has said, “the Church ought to be at the service of life amidst the culture of death”. Mother Theresa warned that “ humanity is not safe  if the child in the womb is not safe”.

Caritas Sri Lanka as a Church institution that works to guarantee the right to life strongly supports the position taken up by the Catholic Bishops against the legalizing of abortion.  We believe that all religions value the gift of life and that permitting abortion would mean granting a legal licence to destroy the unborn child. We have always demonstrated a PRO LIFE stand and we would fully endorse the position taken by the Catholic Bishops of Sri Lanka in opposing any legislation to legalize abortion.