Today Day was published in a footnote referring to the position of the Mexican Academy of Sciences to the criminalization of abortion in several states in Mexico. This pronouncement by the highly regarded Mexican scientists against the position they have taken most of the states in conjunction with the Catholic Church on criminalizing abortion, is an exemplary act of social responsibility and ethics of representatives of Mexican science.
consistent response, but obviously in a country where science is respected and is seen as the engine of social change that such a pronouncement would have resonated with legislators to of decision making to reform so important. This kind of reforms, including the decriminalization of abortion, should be underpinned by scientific knowledge, not lack religious beliefs and dogmas of logical reasoning. The Mexican constitution states that the state must remain secular, and as such can not define their guidelines before which postulates the Mexican Catholic church. This is an issue that can not be ignored by any citizen, we must speak out to form the basis for a more accountable and democratic state with all and for all Mexicans, but while the afternoons desperciar prefer 0 to more than 8 hours of our lives to Televisions little meaningful public response we can expect for the future.
invite you to read the note during the day and reflect on what is involved!
Mexican science to abortion
Note: La Jornada, 19/01/2010. Javier Flores
Barely started the new year, the Mexican Academy of Sciences (AMC) issued a statement which explicitly refers to the decision of the Congress of 18 states in the country by that penalizes abortion. This is not a minor issue. The main scientific organization in the country fixed its position, and calls for political and legal bodies with jurisdiction in this case and and society as a whole, to reflect on the consequences of these facts ... and stop in time before they bring the country to stage a confrontation that would hurt everyone. "
This position is of utmost importance, since decisions made in the 18 states whose legislators have been led by the Catholic Church has argued that from a scientific standpoint, the person is such from the time of conception or fertilization. That is, is this Church that speaks in the name of science, but they are not scientists themselves who think this way. This is clearly a usurpation.
The statement notes that since the scientific point of view, the definition of life and the person who has been in reform states, with the express support of religious leaders, is "simplistic, arbitrary and uninformed." The document states: "The immediate effect of these reforms is to outlaw abortion, becoming, against all logic, the criminalization of women who take such a decision for reasons respectable and, ultimately, in exercising its legitimate right to decide issues relating to their own bodies and their personal dignity. "
is important to note that those who signed the statement of the AMC are and have been undisputed representatives of the country's scientific community. In addition to its current president, Dr. Rosaura Ruiz, subscribe to these approaches 16 former presidents of that body: Francisco G. Bolívar Zapata, José Antonio de la Peña, Rene Drucker Colin, Jorge Flores Valdés, Mauricio Fortes Besprosvani, Carlos Gual Castro, Ismael Herrera Revilla, Juan Pedro Laclette San Román, Adolfo Martinez Palomo, Raúl Ondarza Vidal, Octavio Paredes López, Antonio Peña Diaz Daniel Resendiz Nunez, Paul Rudomín Zevnovaty, Jose Sarukhan Kermez and Guillermo Soberón Acevedo.
They are all great Mexican scientists. Among The signatories include two recipients of the Prince of Asturias Award: Bolívar Zapata and Rudomín, two former rector of the UNAM: Sarukhán and Soberon, the latest addition, former health secretary, Martinez Palomo, who chairs nothing less than the Bioethics Committee UNESCO and currently chairs the Science Advisory Council of the Presidency of the Republic; Laclette, current coordinator of the Scientific and Technological Consultative Forum, and Resendiz, a former director of the National Council of Science and Technology. Five of the signatories are members of The National College, and more than half have received the National Award of Science.
The statement is overwhelming. I do not know what hole is going to get the representatives of the Catholic Church in Mexico speak on behalf of science. The heirs of those in the Middle Ages and Renaissance led to the stake the proto and forced Galileo to recant his discoveries. Those who now rely on the authority of conservative medical and embryology some teachers, who now have no choice but to stand up openly and obey the guidelines recognize that, not science, but a foreign power: the Vatican.
The manifestation of the AMC is very timely as it also occurs at the time that the Supreme Court of Justice Nation decides whether to exercise their appeal on habeas corpus that were brought by women in some states of the country in which this aberration has occurred, as in the case of Jalisco. Will have to see how he reacts the Court, because after its historic decision that declared constitutional reforms in Mexico to decriminalize abortion, has undergone changes in its composition.
Anyway, the statement of the representatives of Mexico's scientific community is a piece of enormous value that can hardly be ignored, it makes clear, once and for all, what is the position of Mexican science on this debate.
