Un Engano

Un Engaño.

Capítulo 3, Sección 5, Art. 45

“Las niñas, niños y adolescentes gozarán de los derechos communes del ser humano, además de los específicos de su edad. El Estado reconocerá y garantizará la vida, incluido el cuidado y protección desde la concepción.

“The girls, boys, and adolescents will possess the common rights of human beings, regardless of their age. The state will recognize and guarantee life, which includes care and protection from conception.”

Capítulo 6- “Derechos de Libertad”, Art. 10

“El derecho a tomar decisiones libres, responsables e informadas sobre su salud y vida reproductiva y a decidir cuándo y cuántas hijas e hijos tener.

“The right to make free, responsible, and informed decisions about your life and reproductive health and to decide when and how many children to have.”

**It has not been so easy to find time to sit and take a breath… and update my blog. So, please forgive me for all the suspense…

Today, I have done absolutely nothing. We (Charlotte, Becky, and I) arrived home very late last night around 2:00 am from Riobamba. Luckily, classes were cancelled today due to the constitutional vote that took place on my college campus yesterday. So, today I am recouping and have found time to share some of the things I have been learning.

In a recent trip to Montañita, Ecuador (a small beach town), I met a man who worked for the government. He told me about his 5 children, spoke adoringly about his wife, and brought tears to my eyes as he talked about his faith and how he tries to live it out as a father. Boldly, I asked him about his views on the teachings/relationships between the Catholic Church/ culture and contraception, abortion/ family planning. He was so honest with me and I loved it. He qualified his response by stating that he wasn’t a religious man, but believed deeply in Jesus Christ. He described how there were times that he didn’t know how he would put food on the table for his children, but how the food always came. Like so many Latin Americans, he lives his daily life dependent on the Grace and promises of God. Even though he already has 5 children, he said that “if my wife comes to me tomorrow and says she’s pregnant, we will not be scared or sad, we will be happy.” He made it clear to me that he does not support abortion. So, then I asked “why will you vote “yes” to a constitution that welcomes pro-abortion legislation?” Then, he basically cited article 3 of the constitution and explained to me how the constitution does not legalize abortion, but that it actually protects against it. I was so confused and couldn’t understand why he, a seemingly educated man who clearly didn’t accept abortion, believed the constitution would actually protect unborn children while the Catholic Churches in Ecuador were certain that it didn’t. Soon, I got to the bottom of the confusion.

Two days later, I started my internship at “la unidad analysis politica”. It is a political analysis unit for the government. I was really excited and nervous to begin working. On my first day, I had to read/ skim nearly hundreds of pages of information about political, economic issues in Ecuador. It was difficult. I felt way out of my league. However, the team seemed to believe in me. I started asking more detailed questions about the purpose of the unit and found out a lot of useful information. One of their primary goals was to try and convince people to vote “sí” for the constitution. When I found this out, I felt angry and deceived because I didn’t want to be a part of anything that was rallying votes for a constitution that the Catholic church hated… but I still couldn’t understand why the church hated it. After a conversation with one of the “head honchos” of the unit, I understood exactly why so many people, like the man in Montañita, believed the constitution would protect AGAINST abortion and not welcome it. Although the constitution does not explicitly permit abortion, it does not acknowledge the “right” to the life of the child and its protection until “natural” death. The absence of these specific words in quotations and Ecuador’s new commitment to the protection of the “health” of the mother is frighteningly familiar to those of the US pro-abortion legislation. In addition to these vague articles, there is plenty of language that mentions “reproductive health” and certain “rights to privacy” (regardless of age) (Art 3 and 10). It does not take a constitutional analyst to understand the implications of such language. However, the average Ecuadorian and the majority of Ecuadorians are uneducated and ignorant to how significant the presence and absence of even one word can be. Even I, a college-educated, pro-life, student had to consult with several people to really understand what was happening. Regardless of where one stands of this issue, the fact that the Ecuadorian government is deceiving millions of people with vague language is wrong. Even worse, I directly asked my boss at the unit if he actually believed that the constitution was against abortion. After he thought about it, it seemed that for the first time, he realized the slippery slope towards pro-abortion legislation. Then responded with, “well, maybe not, but we are trying to modernize, aren’t we?” To me, it is a tragedy that so many people in our world understand “modernity” to include this idea of an absolute right to autonomy to the extent that it actually denies any autonomy and rights to society’s most innocent- the unborn. I only worked in that office for one day, and haven’t been back since. I am still trying to find a new internship to complete my required hours so that I can receive the 3 hours of credit. This is an urgent prayer request.

Because there are some 400 articles in this new constitution, I cannot begin to predict exactly how all the changes will affect the country, whether positively or negatively. However, I know that because of the majority “yes” vote that occurred yesterday, many are celebrating as they believe Ecuador, too, is “modernizing”.