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Brazilian Pro-Lifers Seek to Amend Constitution to Protect Life "From the Moment of Conception"
By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
BRASILIA, April 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision to legalize deadly embryonic stem cell research, pro-life forces in the Brazilian National Congress are seeking to amend the Constitution to clarify its protection of all human life, from conception to natural death.
Miguel Martini, a representative in Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, is the author of the amendment, which will add the words "from conception" to the already existing guarantee of "the inviolability of the right to life" in Article 5.
"If the Constitution says that, the Supreme Court's decision will be overridden," Martini told Correio Braziliense. "One can't trade a life for a cure."
Martini is referring to the claim made by advocates of embryonic stem cell research that cures for a variety of diseases may be created through the destruction of human embryos. In addition to the moral objection against killing an innocent human life, opponents of embryonic stem cell research observe that not a single approved cure has resulted from it to date, while adult stem cell research (which does not destroy human life) has resulted in over 70 approved cures.
Under the Constitution of Brazil, an amendment can be proposed by one-third of the members of the Chamber of Deputies (lower legislative house) or the Senate, and must be approved by two-fifths of both houses to become law.
Although the nation's Supreme Court has at least a marginal anti-life majority, the Congress has recently shown more pro-life tendencies, which reflects the strongly pro-life sentiment of the Brazilian public. A recent vote in the Chamber of Deputies' Social Security and Family Committee unanimously killed an abortion decriminalization bill that had been in process since 1991 (see LifeSiteNews coverage at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08050809.html).
