FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2016

On February 16, The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN gave an intervention during the interactive discussion following the Briefing on the Zika virus convened by the President of the Economic and Social Council.  

In its statement, the Holy See expressed its solidarity with Latin American governments and the entire international community in fighting the international public health emergency provoked by the Zika Virus and urged every effort to help the region stop the spread of the virus and care for those already affected, especially the poor, vulnerable, elderly, children and disabled.

The Holy See noted that there has not been conclusive scientific evidence connecting the Zika virus to microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome and said that for that reason due vigilance rather than panic should guide the path forward. Part of the effective response to the possibility of transmission from infected mother to child should be the promotion of abstinence, it said.

The Holy See expressed its deep concern at the call of some government officials as well as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for the liberalization of abortion laws and access to abortifacients throughout the region. Terminating the life of a child is not preventative, it said, but the confirmation of a failure to stop the spread of the disease and provide medical treatment to pregnant women and their children. A diagnosis of microcephaly, or the fear of such a diagnosis, should not warrant a death sentence, it insisted, but rather solicit the protection and care of others in accordance with their dignity and the obligation to “safeguard all human life, healthy and disabled, with equal commitment, leaving no one behind.”

The statement can be found here.