Brazil's Catholic Church rejects Zika abortion argument

February 11, 2016 02:02

The Catholic Church in Brazil today rejected calls supported by the United Nations to allow abortion in cases of the birth defect microcephaly.

Abortion is restricted in Latin America's biggest country to cases of rape, where the fetus has no brain, or where the mother's life is in danger.

The UN human rights office has called on countries where the Zika virus is thought to be linked to a rash of microcephaly cases to relax laws and allow pregnant women with Zika to terminate.

But Auxiliary Bishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, secretary general of the Brazilian Bishops' Conference, rejected the argument.

"Microcephaly has been occurring in Brazil for years. They are taking advantage of this moment to reintroduce the abortion topic," he was quoted as saying in the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper.

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