Volumne 5 No. 2
Dan's work in Brazil
Asked to address the Brazilian Congress
of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Dan packed his days with speaking engagements
while he was in Brazil for a week in late November.
Brazilian Congress of Gynecology
and Obstetrics; Sex, Ethics, and One Billion Adolescents.
The talk describes how puberty is arriving earlier, and
in many places, marriage occurs later. Adolescents are
being pressured to make choices about sexuality without
the proper knowledge.
Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo;
Reproductive Ethics, and Cloning. Dan and Jose Barzelatti also
spoke to leaders in the reproductive choice movement.
In Rio de Janeiro Dan spoke at a gathering
of women leaders in reproductive ethics.
Jornal do Brazil, a national newspaper in
Brazil, featured Dan in a full-page article, highlighting two of the
main themes in the Sacred Choices initiative: (1) The woman who is not
free to control her reproduction is not a free woman. And (2) The Catholic
tradition has a "pro-choice" position on abortion just as
it has a "no choice" position. Neither view is official; neither
is more Catholic than the other, and both deserve protection in law.
The Globo national cable television taped two
23-minute interviews with Dan discussing the Consultation's book, Sacred
Choices: The Right to Contraception and Abortion in Ten World Religions.
Each of these programs will be aired at least four times on this national
Brazilian network.
Brazil showed enormous interest in the Sacred Choices
message. Dan got many requests to publish the book in Portuguese. At
his talks, he distributed more than 1,000 booklets, A doutrina moderada
Catolica sobre a contracepcao e o aborto. (The moderate
Catholic teaching on contraception and abortion.)
Latin American web pages sponsored by groups promoting women's
right to choose abortion will now begin to carry Consultation materials
in translation.