Permanent Protection of Life Pro-Life Victory in the Dominican Republic

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic.- An overwhelming majority of Dominican lawmakers voted to protect the country from abortion by modifying the constitution to guarantee the right to life from conception to natural death.

The Revisory Assembly on the Constitution passed the Executive Branch’s proposal that penalizes abortion in the the Dominican Republic.

“The right to life is inviolable from conception until the death. The death penalty will not be established, pronounced nor applied in any case.” This motion passed with 167 votes against 32, though only 133 votes were needed to validate it, and will be article 11 in the new Constitution.

The proposal was voted despite Assembly vice-president Julio Cesar Valentin’s proposal to adopt article four of the American Convention on Human Rights, voted in San Jose, Costa Rica in 1969, which states: “All persons have the right to their life is respected. This right will be protected by law and, generally, as of the moment of conception. Nobody can deprive them of their life arbitrarily.”

The Assembly members heatedly debated the controversial topic, with eleven speaking to the floor, whereas 37 took turns last Thursday.

In response to recent efforts by international pro-abortion groups seeking to decriminalize abortion in the Dominican Republic, legislators permanently enshrined the right to life for pre-born humans by rewriting the Constitution of the Dominican Republic with the words “the right to life is inviolable from conception until death.”

A pro-life coalition recently traveled to the Santo Domingo to raise awareness about abortion during the hearings of this bill. The young people in this coalition of organizations included Faithful Soldier School of Evangelism, Live Action San Jose, and Personhood USA.

The group joined with local missionary Dr. Gene Antonio to distribute over 50,000 pieces of literature about abortion from Human Life Alliance.
“A true respect for human life is protecting it from the beginning; the Dominican Republic is ahead of America in building a society where all human life is truly respected.” said Ignacio Reyes Director of Live Action San Jose.

The group made a major impact by showing a graphic video of an actual abortion procedure on dozens of national television programs which broadcast to millions of Dominicans.

“We are thrilled that the protection of human life from the moment of conception is now established into the constitution in-spite of fierce international pressure to legalize abortion,” stated Dr. Gene Antonio, Pro-life Missionary in the Dominican Republic. He continued “This overwhelming victory serves as an example to the other Latin countries fighting to protect life, that we can win and we must win because the lives of little people are at stake.”

Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez said when Congress approved the ban on abortion; it interpreted the feeling of the majority of the Dominican people.

After officiating a mass in the Prime Cathedral of America to mark the Electoral Central Board’s 86th anniversary, Lopez said Congress did the correct thing and rebuffed those who criticized the church’s role and its insistent position. “We understand that that’s what the Dominican people feel and it’s necessary to be in tune. What the Church has done is to interpret what the majority feels.”

The prelate slammed those who say it’s a step backward for the country the Revisory Assembly’s approval of article 30, as the Executive Branch’s constitutional reform proposal defines life from conception until a natural death.

“The fact that there are countries, beginning with the United States and Europe that are legislating in favor of killing people means an enormous backward movement. “I’ll never understand how legislating to kill has ever been any progress.”

“As we continue to fight for the personhood rights of the Pre-born in America, we celebrate and applaud the protection of Life in the Dominican Republic. The people on the small Caribbean island understand that all life is precious and should be protected! We pray that America catches on soon” said Keith Mason of Personhood USA.

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