Surprisingly I've heard nothing about this in the feminist blogosphere:
A nine-year-old Brazilian girl became pregnant with twins after being sexually abused by her stepfather. Doctors recommended that an abortion be performed in the interest of the girl's health, since it would be physically impossible for her to carry the fetuses to term. Because abortion is only legal in cases of rape in Brazil, a judge had to approve the operation, which he/she (thankfully!) did.
As if this situation wasn't fucked up enough, the regional archbishop, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, excommunicated the girl's mother, who authorized the operation, and the doctors who performed it. The Vatican stands behind the excommunication: Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re was quoted as saying, "It is a sad case, but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated." Clearly these guys are incredibly out-of-touch with the actual real-world problems that women (people, really) face everyday.
What I find perhaps most perplexing here is that the Church authorities did not see grounds for excommunicating the stepfather, who not only raped the girl repeatedly during the three years leading up to the pregnancy, but also abused the girl's physically handicapped 14-year-old sister. Sobrinho argued that "the abortion--the elimination of an innocent life--was more serious."
My brain almost exploded when I read this. Such logic parades around as human rights rhetoric when it is really oppression at work. Discussing the unborn twins as the victims here completely ignores the intense child-abuse and sexual assault that took place. It removes the abused girls from the scene entirely, and though it does not explicitly justify the stepfather's behavior, it tacitly accepts such behavior by ignoring it/pushing it aside. Suddenly, the girls' mother and the doctors become the criminals, the abused girls disappear, and the abortion--the issue on which the Church can take a clear, unwavering stance--takes center stage. This is a great strategy for ignoring the complicated issue of corruption within the (devoutly Catholic) family, as well as the importance of women's and girls' health: an issue that the Catholic Church seems to keep perpetually low on their priority list.
Fortunately some Brazilian government officials expressed concern over the pregnant girl's health and denounced the excommunications. Even the President of Brazil, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, said that "the doctors did what had to be done: save the life of a girl of nine years old... In this case, the medical profession was more right than the church."
Finally, someone had something logical to say! Situations like this remind me of how important Roe v. Wade is and why we need to work so hard to protect it. Thank goodness for President Obama...
For more info on the girl's case, visit here.
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This is a really awful and sad case. But do note that it has been covered by at least the big feminist blogs, if you want to read more commentary. Here are some feministing links:
http://www.feministing.com/archives/014073.html
http://community.feministing.com/2009/03/im-so-appalled.html
I completely 100% agree with your title. I think this goes in the case of most religions for that matter. I would like to see the title actually reading "women" but I am well-aware that not all women consider themselves feminists and enjoy being under the control of the church...it's sad.
This is really sad; a nine-year-old girl got pregnant because of her step father.
In Indonesia, many big Islamic organizations are also against the practice of abortion, even in the rape case.
I do really hope feminists will really bring better future for all women in the whole world.
It may be clearly ignorant to some, but not to all who glorify the stick-thin ideal. Even if it was satire, I don't think it was appropriate to make a weight issue out of something so natural and important. Considering how many people on this site have commented about how they were treated differently, etc when pregnant, I think that any superficial classification of pregnancy bedroom furniture into weight is one too many. This society is antinatalist enough, Colbert doesn't have to reinforce it.