Clergy's Objection to Abortion Bill off the Mark Says National Pro-Life Religious Group

Washington, DC - Testimony by a Methodist minister and a Jewish group that the proposed informed consent for abortion bill pending before the Indiana state Senate would establish religious opinion as law is absurd, said Fr. Frank Pavone, President of the National Pro-Life Religious Council.

"The point at which a human's life begins is scientifically and objectively provable," said Fr. Pavone, "and that point is when a human sperm fertilizes a human egg. The informed consent bill before the Indiana Senate would establish scientific fact as legal fact. Whether or not a particular religious belief coincides with scientific fact is as irrelevant as whether religious belief also coincides with the law that citizens may not steal."

The measure in question, S 135, would require that a doctor inform a woman at least 18 hours prior to an abortion of the physical risks of the procedure, of the possibility that her unborn child might feel pain during the abortion, and that human life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm. The Senate health committee is scheduled to vote on the bill next week.

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